The Touch of Your Flesh
by Live4Dance88
Summary: Vincent Valentine has been isolated from the population for sometime now in fear of hurting those around him due to his current state. But he meets someone whose unique gift calms his demons and brings him back into civilization. Vincent x OC
1. Vincent Valentine

**The Touch Of Your Flesh**

**Vincent Valentine**

**◊ Vinaya's POV ◊**

Vincent Valentine is his name. I'm told he's a good friend of Cloud and Tifa's. During the previous week I was invited to a dinner Mr. Valentine was supposed to attend, but he didn't show. I guess he doesn't care too much to meet me. The reason I am to meet this Mr. Valentine is that I could be of very valuable help to him. You see, Mr. Valentine...Vincent, has a demon named Chaos residing inside of him. This didn't used to be such a big problem until someone stole the protomateria that allowed Mr. Valentine to control this demon. So now, he has no other options but to live alone with scarce contact with anyone because if he loses control he could seriously hurt someone. However, I, Vinaya Yadavalli, have a unique and unexplained gift. I am able to, just by touching the flesh of one who holds a demon, sooth the demon back into slumber inside of the body completely reducing the pain and stress an active demon causes the human body.

My strange powers also allow me to completely extract a demon from the human body. But this process is very dangerous and most likely leads to the death of the demon holder.

4 years ago my sister Vimala requested that I remove, Mateus, a demon, from her body. She said to me she would rather face death than a life like she was leading. I did as she asked, but once released Mateus unleashed a powerful attack that killed everyone in sight including itself, my sister, and my parents. How I survived, the Gods will only know.

So here I am now, walking through a place called the Forgotten City where this Mr. Valentine is supposed to hang out at. I've never come here alone before so what some people found as peaceful quiet just sounded like eerie silence to me and I expected something to jump out and attack me at any moment. How did I know Mr. Valentine wasn't in his Chaos form now!? I only stand about 5'2 and am very petite so I don't know how I would defend myself.

After about 30 minutes of walking around aimlessly I took a deep breath and yelled "Hello!!? Is there anyone out here?!!"

My voice echoed through the air. I looked around at the glowing white trees gently swaying in the wind. Nobody responded to my cry so I turned around and tried to find the path that led me out of here.

"Are you looking for someone." a deep monotone voice sounded to the right of me. I turned sharply and stared at the tall man dressed in red and black. His long red cloak was tattered and ripped at the bottom. He had a golden claw for a left arm and pointed golden boots. I assumed this was Vincent Valentine according to Tifa and Cloud's descriptions. There were dark circles under his eyes and he looked as if he could use a few good meals. Cloud had told me his heart breaking story of his short love affair with a woman named Lucrecia. This man looked like he had lived every bit of a rough life.

"I uh..." All I could do was stare at him. He had long black unkempt hair flowing down his back. It was much longer than my shoulder length ebony hair. His pale skin told me he must not have seen the sun for years.

He tossed his cloak back with his claw and approached me a little faster than I'd rather this man move. I took a small step back.

"Who are you?" his tone didn't sound too friendly. I hoped once I stated my purpose he'd warm up a little bit.

"I'm Vinaya Yadavalli. Cloud and Tifa wanted you to meet me so I could help you." My voice was shaky and very quiet. He narrowed his eyes at me suspiciously.

"How do you think you can help me? Its dangerous to even be around me." His voice was so so deep. I almost found it alluring. I looked around avoiding this man's intimidating crimson glare. Before I could open my mouth and say anything more, the man grunted and dropped to his knees, holding his chest. "Please… leave."

What, did this man have any faith at all? I simply bent down and snatched his black glove off of his right hand and held it in my own. His hand was ice cold and just the touch of it sent shivers down my spine. He instantly relaxed and his crimson eyes looked up at me with a new glow. The cold stare was now gone and he looked at me as if I were God coming down from the heavens.

"How…."

"I don't know." I interrupted. "I've had this gift ever since I was born. Cloud and Tifa sent me here to talk to you. They said you had been out here for so long by yourself and could use some kind of company. With me by your side, it would even be safe for you to return to Edge." I watched the man look around contemplating what I had said. The other's had said that he preferred solitude and isolation, but I could sense in his touch that he was indeed still human and every human has a desire to be included and accepted by other humans.

"They really care a lot for you. After hearing you story, it's almost like I've begun to care a little myself." I laughed softly. I jumped slightly as Vincent reached out and grabbed my hand again. He examined it and held it in his own for some time. Next to my cappuccino colored skin, his looked ghastly.

"Try all you want, you'll never figure it out. I've been to a million labs and have had experiments done and everything. There's no explanation. I'm just special I guess. And it's not just my hands, any fleshly contact between you and I will calm Chaos." I smiled down at him even though he wasn't looking at me.

"I see." He muttered releasing my hand and standing up. I felt a little more comfortable with this man kneeling down because of his height. He towered over me looking down at me with his piercing red eyes. I had never seen any like his before in my life. From what I saw of his face he appeared to be very handsome. His forehead and most of his eyebrows were covered by a red bandana and his mouth was covered by his red cloak.

I looked down at my watch. It was 2:00, my four year old daughter Priya would be home from Preschool in 30 minutes. I pulled out my cell phone and quickly dialed Tifa's number. I hated asking her for favors all the time, but being a single mother was really hard. And Priya would never forgive me if I ever forgot to pick her up from school.

**◊ Vincent's POV ◊**

This is near impossible. How can she….? Could I possibly return to Edge? I could just for a visit. I glanced down at her as she held up one finger, putting me on hold. I stood there patiently waiting for her phone conversation to end. It seems she has a young daughter back home, must mean she has a man there waiting for her. I should be more appreciative of the time she took to come here for me. She snapped her phone shut and looked up at me.

"I really need to be heading back, uh…so..would you like to come stay with me for a while? You can visit Cloud and the others. Everyone asked about you. They are so happy I've found you and that I'm willing to bring you with me. Do you get along well with children? I have a daughter named Priya. She's only four years old. I have a guest bedroom and its right across the hall from mine so if anything was to happen….I could easily get to you."

I blinked.

"So what do you say?" I could tell her smile was genuine. It couldn't hurt to stay with her, just for a little while. I should at least visit the people who considered me…their friend.

"Ok." I replied simply. She then surprised me again by extending her hand out to me. I looked down at it waiting for her to say something else.

"C'mon. Take it. I don't want you flippin out on me or anything. I've done my fair share of research on Chaos and boy that things a powerful one." I took her small hand in mine again. It felt so warm, it sent a feeling of relaxation throughout my whole body and I no longer felt the tension Chaos created deep inside my chest. And I no longer heard his whispering or growls.

**◊ Vinaya's POV ◊**

His cold hand was in mine once again. I began feeling a little uneasy about having a man stay in my house. I have never been able to trust a male in my life. Priya's father promised me he'd be there forever, but as soon as he heard the word pregnancy he disappeared into thin air. My own father wasn't a man to be trusted. He made my family's life a living hell. I was beginning to think a demon was residing in _him_ as well.

"I parked my vehicle somewhere around here." I said once we walked into an area that looked more familiar. Vincent remained silent except for the clicking of all the metal attached to this man. Not only were his boots and claw metal, but he had belts and buckles all over his outfit.

"Ah! There it is." I looked at my little red automobile. This was part of the newest technology going around. It had wheels and could operate like a normal car, but if you shift the gears down to F, it takes flight! It suddenly began to look smaller and smaller as I realized Vincent would have to sit on the back of it and hold on to me. All at the same time our flesh would need to be touching or else he could fall off or even knock me off the automobile. I just looked at him and nervously tucked my hair behind my ear a few times.

I then slowly sat down and scooted as far as I could to the front leaving Vincent plenty of room on the back. Without me even telling him, he sat down on the back and hesitantly wrapped his human arm around my waist. "Uh…Vincent could you…" I lifted up my shirt a little allowing him to press his thumb against the area just below my belly button. "Ready?" I managed to squeak out.

I took his simple "Hmm." as I yes and sped off and up into the air. This must have surprised the hell out of Vincent because his grip on me became painfully tighter and I could hear him gasp slightly. I smiled to myself as I said. "Don't worry Vincent, I'm a great driver." He didn't say anything in return, but didn't loosen his grip any either. Cloud warned me that he might be a little uncomfortable around females since it had been more than 3 decades since he had even touched one. As I swooped down to avoid some flying monsters Vincent's body pressed further against mine and I could feel his heart beating against my back. I then screamed out loud as I heard a gunshot from behind me.

"Cerberus." Vincent said simply.

"What?" I parked my vehicle in mid air and it hovered there while I turned and looked at Vincent. He held up his gun and shot again at the flying monster that dared to swoop down dangerously close to us. It fell to the ground as three bullets tore through its body. Guns made me terribly nervous, but I could see that Vincent only meant to protect us. I continued to look at him while he scanned the sky with squinted eyes looking fierce and very concentrated. His head then turned sharply and his eyes met with mine. His eyes didn't show any emotions neither did his voice when he said. "The coast is clear." I took this as his way of saying uh...can we please get going. So I turned back around and Vincent got back into his position and we sped off once again towards Edge.


	2. Reunion

**The Touch Of Your Flesh**

**Reunion **

I was relieved to see the familiar buildings of Edge in the distance. "Almost there. I told everyone to meet at my house. So that's where we're heading." I slowed down and lowered my vehicle onto the highway, switching the gear back into drive. I slowed down even more once I got inside the city. "This is Edge." I said cheerfully. "My house is just around the corner." I sang out.

I'm sure I was just as shocked as Vincent when I turned the corner and saw a huge "WELCOME BACK VINCENT" sign sitting on my front yard. I parked my vehicle on the road instead of pulling it into the garage because Cloud had parked his motorcycle there.

"Vincent!!" Yuffie squealed as she ran up to him. Knowing that he wasn't a touchy person, she just gave him a light tap on his shoulder and only received a slight nod from him. Cloud and Tifa, who were sitting together on my porch swing waved from where they were. "Hey Vincent! Come over here!"

He followed their orders and walked up my three porch steps and stood beside them. He acknowledged them with only a nod also. I began to wonder how this man had achieved this many friends being so silent and distant. There was Cloud, Tifa, Yuffie, Barret, Cid, Red XIII, and even Reno and Rude showed up. Tifa had also brought Marlene and Denzel along with her. They had become close friends with Priya although she was the baby of the group. "Mommy!!" Priya screamed as she ran out of the house. I met her on the second step and scooped her up into my arms. Priya had long black hair that was usually braided into two ponytails with bangs swept to the side of her forehead. She had almond shaped chocolate eyes that mirrored mine. Today for school I dressed her in a cute pink T-shirt that said Princess across it in sparkly white letters and white capris. I dressed myself in a pair of light jeans, that had gotten a little tight over these last couple months that I've been off my diet, and a long lavender T-shirt that also fit pretty tight.

"Hey babe. Did you miss me?" I kissed her cheek and she wrapped her little arms around my neck.

"Where did you go?" she asked in her cute little high pitch voice. I walked over to where Vincent was standing and put Priya down. "I went to find someone."

It was a slightly windy day and the breeze blew Vincent's red cloak against Priya's arm causing her to turn around and catch a glimpse of him for the very first time. Vincent also turned and looked down into my little girl's wide eyes.

"Mommy…who's he?" she asked backing away and wrapping her arms around my upper thigh. I laughed at her reaction. Vincent's face, or what was seen of his face, remained emotionless. He looked up at me as I explained to Priya who he was and what he was doing here.

She stared up at him and tightened her grip on my thigh. "Say hi." I said nudging her gently. She pressed her face into my thigh and refused to look at him. I smiled up at Vincent. "She's shy around new people."

He looked down at her. I noticed that he seemed just about as uneasy around her as she did around him. I scooped Priya up into my arms again and took her inside so that Vincent would get a chance to catch up with his friends.

◊**Vincent's POV◊**

I took a seat in the chair across the porch swing Cloud and Tifa said on. It was refreshing to see all of their faces again and to see how happy they were to see me, but something just didn't sit right. I don't belong here with these people. I'm different.

"So Vincent what have you been up to?" Tifa asked. She pushed herself off of Cloud's chest and sat upright.

"Nothing really." I replied. What is there for me to have been doing? My very existence has become useless. I looked out at the yard where everyone else sat on lawn chairs talking and listening to music. Barret was barbequing and Yuffie was dancing with Red XIII. If you could call Red's leaping around dancing.

"Ooohh. So what do you think of our friend Vinaya?" Tifa had an unusual glint in her eyes that told me there was something more to the question. I merely gave a shrug as an answer.

"Come on! You think she's nice?" Tifa pushed. She was now bending forward with her elbows on her knees. Cloud even looked curious of how I would answer. I only nodded.

"Vincent you haven't changed at all!" Tifa laughed and looked at Cloud. Cloud smirked and looked back at me. His face then got very serious.

"Vincent, later on this week we're going to go do some investigating in Kalm. Not too long ago they suffered an attack from Deepground soldiers. We could use you're help."

"I can't do that." I looked down and closed my eyes. What help would I be? I can't even go anywhere without Chaos interfering. What does an attack on Kalm have to do with me? Or Cloud for that matter.

"Look, Vincent. You're the best fighter I know." I opened my eyes and looked up at Cloud as soon as I was about to say something more I felt that terrible pain rip through my chest. I leaned forward and gasped for air a few times.

"Vinaya!!" Tifa stood up quickly and shook her hands nervously. "Hurry!!" Cloud stood and looked as if he was going to draw his sword on me. Much to my relief, Vinaya came flying out of the house and took my hand in hers.

"Are you ok?" she asked tenderly. I took a few deep breaths and nodded, I kept a hold of her hand not wanting to let go. My body felt so much better without the tension and discomfort Chaos caused when he was active. No one could ever understand what that pain felt like.

◊**Vinaya's POV◊**

Although I felt Chaos' energy fade and the reaction was over, Vincent kept a firm hold on my hand. I remembered my sister Vimala telling me that she preferred keeping a hold of my hand, this didn't even give Mateus a chance and she never had to worry about when her demon would attack. Knowing that Vincent wasn't going to tell me how he felt, I kept a hold of his hand assuming he felt the same as my sister.

"Pork burgers!!" Barret's voice bellowed. I was starving, my stomach had been growling since we arrived in Edge. I pulled Vincent by his hand towards the barbeque grill determined to be first in line. I succeeded and let go of Vincent's hand taking the pork burger in both of mine.

"C'mon Vincent. Have one. I worked hard on these!" Barret looked as if he was ready to shove the burger he was holding down Vincent's throat. Vincent took the food with his clawed hand and eyed it suspiciously. Hadn't he seen a freakin pork burger before? I grabbed his hand again and drug him over to the lawn chairs that Rude and Reno had left open. I pushed them closer together with my foot and sat down, pointing at the second chair so Vincent would also sit. We sat there silently enjoying our food. I noticed after Vincent took a first apprehensive bite, he began chowing down realizing how good it was. Barret had always been an awesome cook.

Cid walked up to us with a beer in one hand and a barbequed hot dog in the other. "Well, aint this somethin. Vincent Valentine, where the hell have you been?"

Vincent responded with a light. "Hm" which I took to be his way of laughing.

"You lucky shit, come back here to Edge, everyone throws you a party, and you get to stay with one of the prettiest little females in town." Cid laughed loudly for a while then moved back over near Barret who was now also drinking a beer.

Cid's comment slightly embarrassed me and it was hard for me to look over at Vincent again. "Do you want something to drink? I'm sure they have soda or lemonade in the cooler."

Vincent shrugged. I assumed he meant that either would do so I walked over to the cooler and grabbed two mountain dews. Yuffie nearly attacked me as I stood upright and turned around. Being that she was still under aged she was also holding a mountain dew. When Priya was just a baby Yuffie would bug me everyday if she could do some babysitting for some extra cash.

"So, you're gonna let Vincent live with you?" she was still dancing around and humming to the music.

"Yeah. But I don't know how long he'll stay." I replied I looked over at Vincent who was being hassled by Reno for stealing his seat. I could tell from here that Reno was just playing around, but Vincent took him seriously and rose from the seat. Reno and Rude weren't really that close with the group, but they weren't our enemies anymore. I was entirely sure that neither of them really cared that much for Vincent, but came for the food.

"I'm surprised he even came at all. Cloud and I went out there a year ago but he wouldn't come back." Yuffie's tone seemed a little sad.

"Maybe he feels a little safer now that he realizes I can stop Chaos from taking over. Now he doesn't have to worry about hurting you guys. I think that was his main concern." I said trying to reassure her that he did honestly want to be here with them.

"True true true." She nodded. "Any chemistry?" her voice was back to its normal perkiness.

"What?" I know she isn't trying to ask the question I think she's asking.

"You know, do you think you guys would ever hook up. Vincent's heartbroken and lovesick that's why he mopes so much and seems so depressed. A broken heart can do that you know. It took me a year and a half to get over Whatshisface." But I was aware it had been more than 30 years since Vincent's situation with Lucrecia. I never got to hear the full story, but I just know that she ended up choosing another man over Vincent and betraying him.

I sighed loudly and rolled my eyes. "I'm not exactly ready for a relationship either. And I have Priya to think about. Anyways I've only known Vincent for 3 hours!" I laughed then started walking towards him realizing he was probably waiting for his drink. Yuffie followed me I said a silent prayer in my head that she didn't embarrass me in front of him.

"Thanks." His deep voice gave me chills. He took the can from my hand and slipped a long claw under the flap and popped it open. The three children came running out of the house and down the stairs.

"Priya! Don't run down those steps, babe you're gonna hurt yourself and make mommy sad!" I yelled. She frowned at me and hid behind Denzel. Barret handed them each a hot dog.

"Vincent did you get taller?!" Yuffie stood 5'2, the same at me so as we stood next to him he towered over us both by almost a foot.

He looked down at her and she smiled up at him. She handled his intense eye contact better than I could. "Maybe." He said taking another drink of his soda.

"You better not bully my friend like you used to do me just because you're taller!" Yuffie warned pointing her finger at him. I looked up at Vincent and it almost looked as if he could have been smirking behind that cloak. I looked away as soon as his eyes turned to mine.

The rest of the evening went pretty smoothly. Although Vincent didn't say much at all, I'm sure I could have counted the number of words or phrases he said on ten fingers, I think he was happy to see everyone. And I know they were all happy to see him. At around nine o'clock everyone started to clear out. Cloud stayed around a little bit longer and talked to Vincent outside for a while. Vincent had yet to even come in my house at all. It seems that Cloud is still very concerned with Deepground and the situation in Kalm, but I could clearly see that Vincent didn't seem interested in helping. As soon as I saw Cloud departing, I stepped outside on the porch. "You gonna stay out here all night Vincent?" I asked smiling at him. I waved for him to come inside and he followed my directions.


	3. Adjusting

**The Touch Of Your Flesh**

**Adjusting**

Once Vincent had finally made it inside my house I shut the door behind him and kicked my shoes off by the door. He stood on the welcome mat looking as if he was scared to move any further. I watched his eyes as he looked around at my very comfortable looking living room. The carpet was a beige color, but I had many light blue rugs down. People would think they were for decoration, but I mainly put them there to cover up stains that refused to come out. The couch was also a light blue color, it was very soft and the cushions were big and fluffy. His eyes then shifted to the book case that was up against the wall across from us. There were more pictures than books sitting on it. There were also many pictures lining the walls of Priya from when she was just born up until now and a few pictures of me. "Go ahead Vincent, take your shoes off. Make yourself at home." I gently touched his arm to bring him out of his daze.

He slowly removed his gold boots and walked towards the bookcase. I noticed he seemed to be drawn to the pictures. "There are albums in the bottom rows if you want to look through them."

Phoebe came around the corner from the kitchen and walked along the wall until she came up to Vincent's leg. She rubbed her pure white body against his leg and purred loudly. Vincent glared down at her and looked like he was ready to grab his gun.

"That's Phoebe." I turned around and sat up on my knees so I could see over the back of the couch.

"…never liked cats…" Vincent muttered quietly. I smiled. "Phoebe's sweet. I'm sure she can change your mind." His eyebrows rose slightly as he took another look at her. She meowed up at him and rubbed her body against him one more time.

He walked away from the bookcase and sat next to me on the couch. He sat up straight and looked stiff and still a bit nervous. I grabbed his hand hoping to allow him to relax a little bit. "The longer my flesh is against yours the deeper Chaos sleeps. My sister and I used to hold hands for about twenty minutes before bed so she could sleep through the night. I'll do the same with you, if you want."

"Your sister?" Vincent asked turning towards me. It was the first time I heard his voice hold any kind of enthusiasm even if it was just a slight raise in his tone. I glanced up into his eyes then back down at our intertwined fingers.

"She…Mateus lived in her." I said quietly. Vincent turned away and looked ahead at the TV that I had just flipped on. A man had just jumped out of a burning car and was running down the road shooting at another man.

"Where is she now?" Vincent's voice was back to its monotone.

"Dead." I whispered. "I feel like it's my fault." I leaned my head back against the couch. Vincent finally relaxed against the couch as well. He looked exhausted, but if he wanted to sleep through a full night, he had better keep a hold of my hand.

"How would it be your fault?" he pressed. Wow I am actually having a full conversation with this man. Maybe he does make a good friend. It just took him a little while to open up a bit.

"I can extract a demon as well, but it almost always will end in the person's death. Vimala told me she didn't care if she died, she didn't want to go on living like she was. But I thought I could do it and save her life, I had a plan…but it failed and she died instantly. As Mateus was coming out of her, it unleashed a powerful attack that destroyed our whole house and everyone in it, my parents included. Except me. I stood alone in the pile of debris completely unharmed and untouched." I sighed and put my feet up on the coffee table. I still smelled like the outdoors and barbecue smoke. I felt Vincent's eyes on me, making me uneasy. I guess our short conversation was over, or maybe he just didn't know how to respond to my story, that's understandable. Then he finally asked.

"When was that?"

"4 years ago. That was a really tough time in my life. First I was a victim of teenage pregnancy at 17, and my boyfriend dumped me, then I realized I wasn't going to graduate high school, and then my family died. I was really a mess before I met your group of friends. I worked with Tifa at restaurant and she invited me to a get together will everyone else. It seems like they've all had their fair share of hardships as well so I fit right in. Then they found out about my gift, I tried to keep it a secret at first, but then they told me about you and I confessed that my gift was indeed real and I could use it to help you. But I will never try to take Chaos out of you, I can't do it again."

Silence took over again except for the faint sound of TV. I watched the ending of the action movie and as the credits started rolling I felt weight slowly pressing against me. I noticed Vincent had fallen asleep and was now leaning on me. I didn't want to wake him because I knew he would either be embarrassed or extremely uncomfortable, or both. I sat there for five minutes wondering what to do. Vincent took a deep breath leaned further on me, his head resting against or rather on top of mine since he sat taller than I did. My heart started pounding and I knew I had to get out of this situation as fast as possible before my thoughts started traveling in places they shouldn't.

"Vincent." I said quietly. He didn't respond. I shook his hand that I was still holding. "Vincent" I said a bit louder. His eyes slowly opened and I heard him gasp slightly. He sat up straight again and took his hand out of mine.

"Sorry." He muttered.

"Don't be. I know you must be exhausted. I am too. There are some pajamas and an outfit for you to wear tomorrow sitting on the bed in the room I set up for you." I stood up and reached my hand out to him again. He took it and stood up also. We walked down the hall as I led him to his room. I opened the door for him and walked inside. The carpet was grey along with the curtains, bedspread, and pillows that were arranged neatly. The dresser was black, and there was a black chair beside the window.

"That's the bathroom. Do you want to shower really quickly?" I asked him. He nodded and picked up the black pajama pants and white T-shirt I had laying there for him. While he showered in the bathroom in the hallway, I took a quick shower in the bathroom on the other side of the kitchen. Vincent would have probably rather used this one. It was decorated with dark greens, instead of hot pinks and flowers like the bathroom in the hall. I met him again in the hallway just as he was coming out of the bathroom, he held his dirty clothes in his hands and turned to me as if to ask what to do with them. As I went to take them from him I got a little distracted by how much more handsome Vincent looked without his cloak. I dropped the pile of clothes right there. Vincent's belt with his gun attached to it was in there also and his gun slid out and felt on the carpet out in the open. I jumped back. "Vincent please do something with that thing, I'm terrified of guns." Vincent picked up the gun and held it behind his back.

"I'll wash these and have them back to you as soon as possible, ok? Goodnight Vincent." I turned around then quickly back around. "Oh! I have to wake up at nine so I can fix breakfast for Priya, it would be awesome if you could be up at that same time so we can all eat at one time, then I have to walk her down the block to her bus stop, you can come with me so like nothing happens. Then the rest of the day we can do whatever you want to." He nodded and walked to his room.

The next morning I awoke at nine like I said I would, Priya sat at the kitchen table rushing me as I fixed her favorite breakfast meal, pancakes. I hoped Vincent would enjoy these as well I have no idea what he's been eating these past years. Speaking of the devil…or rather thinking of the devil. Vincent walked into the kitchen. For being as exhausted as he was before, Vincent actually looked better this morning instead of worse, like I had. I should have at least put on some make up or brushed my hair a bit, I forgot totally what it was like to have a male presence in my house.

"Good morning Vincent!" I grinned at him and sat a bright red place mat down at the table making a place for Vincent right across from Priya's alphabet place mat. I turned back around and tended to the pancakes again.

"Please sit, you're making me nervous." I laughed looking up at Vincent. He gave a weary look towards Priya before slowly taking the seat across from her. She stared at him with her curious eyes. I had just finished brushing her hair into a neat pony tail. Today she was dressed in a lavender shirt with a pink flower on it and pink capris.

"Priya…" I said in a desperate attempt to get her to stop staring at Vincent. He already seemed uncomfortable enough. He scratched the back of his head nervously and sat his metal arm up on the table. Priya then focused her attention to it.

"Priya, stop being rude. Why don't you tell Vincent about preschool? What are you going to do in class today?" I sat a plate of pancakes down in front of her.

"We are learning letters. And my group has a plant to water. It takes water everyday so it can grow." She didn't look at Vincent as she talked, but I could tell he assumed she was talking to him. He simply nodded in response. I am definitely not shy and neither was Priya's father so I really don't know where she gained this quality.

Breakfast then turned pretty quiet, not even I could think of conversation starters that could get things going. After we ate, we walked Priya to the end of the block where her bus picked her up. I gave her a kiss on the cheek and saw her off. Vincent and I were still in our pajamas, he wore a pair of my black slippers and I wore my pink ones that went with my pink pajama pants and white tank top. I hadn't even brushed my hair yet and neither had Vincent so if we didn't look attractive…

"I should leave soon." Vincent said suddenly as we started walking back home at a very slow pace.

"Why? You just got here; you've got to at least stay a week." I said with light laughter. I took his hand in mine to prevent any kind of public embarrassment. This time he didn't jump or seem uncomfortable. Anyone passing us by on the street would mistake us for a couple.

"I…don't want to be a burden. And your daughter doesn't seem fond of me. I don't want to make her uncomfortable in her own house." That was the highest amount of words I had ever heard come out of Vincent all at once. I smiled.

"Priya's just a little uneasy around strangers." Especially those with metal arms and demons living inside them. I didn't say this out loud in fear of hurting his feelings.

"A week…are you sure?" Vincent looked down at me; the left corner of his lips was turned up slightly. Was Vincent smiling at me?! I grinned up at him and gave his hand a squeeze.

"I said it didn't I." I giggled and picked up the pace dragging Vincent along with me.

"Well, well, well!!" I heard a perky little voice that could only belong to one person. I saw Yuffie sitting on my porch steps. Cloud then pulled up on his motorcycle and waved. I really should have brushed my hair and put on make up. Vincent let go of my hand and stood with his arms crossed across his chest.

"Don't you two look cute in your jammies!!" Yuffie jumped off the second step and skipped up to us. "Vincent you look good today, sleep well?" she eyed him suspiciously.

He nodded. I bet that was the first night he had slept all the way through for a long time. Yuffie's suspicious glare then turned to me.

"Did _you_ sleep well, Vinaya?"

"Yes, I did in my _own_ bed as Vincent did in his _own_ bed." I said cancelling her thoughts of us possibly sharing a bed. I still don't know Vincent that well.

"Hey, Vincent wanna come with me today there's something I want to show you." Cloud said as he walked up to us. Vincent turned to me.

"Vinaya, why don't you come too?" Cloud added.

"Sure! That sounds like fun, you guys wanna come in while Vincent and I get dressed." Everyone walked back into my house. Cloud and Yuffie threw themselves down on the couch while Vincent and I returned to our bedrooms. I wondered what Cloud wanted to show Vincent, I prayed it wasn't anything dangerous. It's not safe anyways to be travelling with these threats from Deepground going around.

**Lord Makura**thanks for the reviews!


	4. Deepground's Threat

**The Touch of Your Flesh**

**Deepground's Threat**

◊ **Vincent's POV ◊**

I examined the clothes she had bought for me, for not even knowing my style I'd say she did pretty well. There was a black buttoned down, short sleeved shirt and a pair of black dress pants. The weather was quite warm here so I was actually thankful for the short sleeves. Yuffie showed me where her laundry room was so I could retrieve my belt and attach Cerberus to me. I do not know exactly where Cloud is planning on taking us so I want to be prepared for anything.

"Oh Vincent! Do those clothes fit you ok?" Vinaya popped in the doorway surprising me a bit. I turned to her and held my arms out, palms facing her so she could see for herself. Why speak when actions can speak louder. Her face lit up and she whistled at me. I could only raise an eyebrow at this causing her to begin laughing. How can laughter come so easily for these people?

◊ **Vinaya's POV ◊**

I stood in the laundry room with Vincent for less than a minute before Yuffie ran in there again. Today I wore a black tank top with short black shorts. My midriff was exposed slightly, I did this just incase we would be riding on my flight car again. I pulled my hair back into a ponytail, but left bangs swooping over my left eye.

"Let's go slow pokes!!" she jumped up and flung her arm in the direction of the door. I smiled at Vincent and held my hand out. He took it and held it in a very light gentle way.

"Where are we going Cloud? I've got to be back for Priya, you know." I reminded Cloud, he tends to forget everyone and everything when he's got something he wants to do or some place he wants to go.

"We can call Tifa, if we're going to be late, she won't mind." Cloud replied.

"Ok." I replied back and followed him and Yuffie out the door with Vincent still holding my hand. He didn't really look thrilled.

"Yuffie and I will ride on Fenrir; can you take your flight car and follow us?" Cloud turned to Vincent and me.

"Sure thing." Great here I was in the same position that I was in when I first met Vincent yesterday, staring at my vehicle realizing how tiny that thing looks. The closeness was gonna be overwhelming this time because Vincent wasn't covered in layers of clothes. I sat down first again and he got on right behind me placing his human arm around my waist. I heard him clear his throat before saying.

"Do you know where we're heading?" his voice was so close to my ear it made goose bumps sprout on my arms. I wish I knew where we were heading; I was already starting to have bad feelings about this whole little trip anyways. Cloud should understand not everyone is as fearless as he is.

"No, but we'll follow Cloud's lead." I heard him sigh in response. He tightened his grip on me as I sped off behind Cloud. At first we rode around town occasionally slowing down and stopping in front of places so Cloud or Yuffie could explain to Vincent what had changed and which places were good if he wanted to buy certain things. They pointed out good restaurants. Vincent took it all in, but didn't say anything. I didn't dare turn around because I could tell Vincent's face was dangerously close to mine already. He was inches away from having his chin on my shoulder. But then I noticed out of the corner of my eye that he seemed to be watching how to work the vehicle.

Just as we were right outside the city of Edge Cloud slowed down and came to a stop. "Do you hear that?" He looked both ways and then up to the sky.

I stopped also and listened carefully. Gunshots and screaming could be faintly heard from the other side of the city. Without another word, Cloud spun Fenrir around causing Yuffie to cry out in surprise and sped off in the direction of the noise. I had no choice but to follow. I saw it as a safer route to hit the sky so I switched gears and shot up into the air. Vincent slipped backwards suddenly and quickly wrapped his clawed arm around me as well. I straightened my vehicle out and slowed down a bit. Vincent removed his left arm from my waist and scooted back.

"Is that Deepground?" I asked. I don't know why I would expect Vincent to know, he didn't even answer so I assumed he didn't. A group of soldiers dressed in electric blue and black were crowded around a group of civilians. I then noticed that one of those civilians was my daughter's preschool teacher I then saw my Priya sitting on the ground crying outside of the circle of people.

"Priya!!!" I screamed. No sooner had I yelled, guns were aimed up at us.

"Land." Vincent's voice remained calm and collected. I heard him pull Cerberus from his belt and three blasts exploded into my ears. Three soldiers hit the ground and the crowd scattered. There were suddenly gunshots everywhere and people screaming. I landed my flight car and stood behind Vincent as he walked towards the crowd shooting soldiers like it was nothing, never missing and always delivering a fatal blow. He cleared the area within ten minutes and stood there holding a smoking Cerberus out to his side. He then turned sharply towards Priya and gently scooped her up.

"Priya!" I cried taking her into my arms as Vincent walked up to me. I held her for a moment then put her down.

"Mommy…." She wined as she wiped away her tears. I mentally stated a thankful prayer and hugged my daughter closely. Cloud and Yuffie then appeared near me. Cloud had his blade out and Yuffie looked as if she was ready to throw her sharp boomerang.

"Thank you Vincent." I looked up at him with my watery eyes. He only stared at me for a brief moment then looked up at the sky. The sound of helicopters could be heard in the distance.

"May I?" Vincent asked pointing to my flight car. I nodded quickly.

"Do you know how to work it?" I now had Priya in my arms again with her face buried into my neck. He nodded again and took off with my vehicle.

◊ **Vincent's POV ◊**

This is just what I needed. Trouble with these Deepground people. Driving this new type of vehicle proved to be quite simple. It glided through the air flawlessly, I only needed one hand to steer it which was good because I needed the other to shoot down the approaching helicopters. I circled around them and got them on my trail leading them in the area outside the city therefore, causing minimal damage to the city when the helicopters fell.

I flew back to the city and tried to find the place I had left Vinaya and the others, as soon as I spotted them below, the pain hit me.

◊ **Vinaya's POV ◊**

Vincent flew in and hit the street a little harder than I wished he would in my fairly new vehicle. I then noticed him hunched over the wheel in pain. I ran to him and grabbed his arm. "Vincent?"

"I'm fine." He replied. "Let's get out of here." That sounded like a wonderful idea. There was only room for two on my flight car so I put Priya on Fenrir in between Yuffie and Cloud. Terror and fear were still written all over her little face, but she was unharmed as were all of the other civilians thanks to Vincent. Why didn't he want to get involved with Deepground? He was an amazing gunner and could easily stop them and save the planet from their reckless attacks and harassment. I made a mental note to discuss this with him once we got back to my house.

Upon arriving at my house Cloud got off of his motorcycle and walked up to Vincent. "Vincent, are you sure you don't want to join us in investigating?"

Vincent let out a long sigh and closed his eyes for a brief moment before saying. "I can't Cloud. But if a situation ever arises where you are clearly in danger, I will help. However, I do not wish to go seeking out trouble."

"Will you answer your phone?" Cloud asked. I had no idea Vincent even had a phone. Vincent nodded and he and I retreated back into my house. It was a little after 1 o'clock and I was starving to death.

Everyone in the house was quiet while I fixed us all a quick meal. Vincent sat at the kitchen table with his cell phone open. It looked as if he were reading messages. Maybe they were all the text messages his friends tried to send him when he didn't want to be bothered with anyone. I then began to wonder why he even agreed to come with me. I know I can soothe Chaos and all, but the more I look at this man and am around him, the more I notice he seems to have bigger problems than a demon affecting him. I mean, even Vimala wasn't _this_ depressed all the time. She still could laugh and smiled all the time which is why I was so upset when my plan had failed. I knew deep down Vimala wanted to live on even though she said she'd rather not live on burdening everybody. I suddenly realized the spaghetti noodles were more than ready to be drained so I turned off the burner. I felt like I was being watched as I drained the noodles so I tried to start conversation.

"So…uh..what do you think these Deepground soldiers are really up to?" I poured the noodles back into the pan and added the sauce. I could hear Priya coming down the hall from the bathroom.

"I'd rather not know."

"Do you care?" That question came almost quicker than Vincent could finish his sentence. He sighed.

"Its not that I don't care, it's that I can't do anything about it." I heard him snap his phone shut and stuff it into his pocket.

Priya walked into the kitchen, for being in a near death situation just moments ago she seemed ok. I don't think she fully understood what was going on. Priya has never been around guns or any other kind of weapons. She glanced up quickly at Vincent then back at the table as soon as he looked up at her. And when he looked away she fixed her eyes on him again, only to look away again when he looked back. They did this for a good ten minutes until I got in between it and both their eyes were fixed on me as I placed a hot plate of spaghetti in front of both of them. I then turned around and shut the red curtains; I was already feeling very paranoid after today's events. I even had the front door locked and I hardly ever do that. However I did leave my flight car on the street instead of inside the garage. I would get that later, or tomorrow sometime.

"What do you say to Vincent for saving you today?" I grinned at Priya and smoothed her hair down. She ducked her head and pulled away from me saying nothing.

Vincent looked across the table at her. He wasn't smiling, but he wore a soft expression.

"Priya." She frowned up at me upon hearing my serious tone.

"Thank you." She said very quietly with her head down looking at her spaghetti noodles. I reached over and tucked a napkin down her shirt predicting the mess she was about to make.

"Your welcome." Vincent replied. He then focused on his food. There were so many questions I wanted to ask him at that moment, but I couldn't make myself do it. I studied his flawless features as he ate his noodles very carefully. After we ate our spaghetti, I did Vincent's laundry and went to put it on his bed. I was shocked when I found him in there sitting in the black chair by the window. He sat with his elbows rested on his knees and his face in his hands.

I cleared my throat so that he was aware of my presence. He lifted his face from his hands and looked over at me. I smiled sat on his unmade bed.

"Something wrong?" I pulled my ponytail holder out and let my hair fall down around my shoulders. Vincent sighed and looked back out of the window. There is something else definitely bothering this man. When he didn't respond I sighed as well. It hasn't even been a full two days and I'm already over this whole being silent thing. I was on the verge from just screaming _Damnit Vincent talk to me! You can trust me! I know we haven't known each other for 2 days even, but I've heard all about you for the past couple months._ But I kept these words inside and just watched Vincent who was staring out the window with a scowl on his face.


	5. Developing Feelings

**The Touch of Your Flesh**

**Developing Feelings**

◊ **Vinaya's POV ◊**

Over the next two days, things were pretty quiet. Vincent and I didn't speak much, he spent most of his time sitting by the window brooding, while I tended to Priya and watched TV. I only ventured out of the house twice to buy Vincent a few more outfits and food for the house. I kept Priya home from school over those two days and now it was Saturday. I love my daughter dearly, but all this time together was making me a little irritable.

Priya continued to be a little leery of Vincent, but I noticed at the dinner table she wasn't as shy. Another thing I noticed and thought was a little funny was the fact that Vincent appears to have a small fear of cats. Of all things for this man to be afraid of. Anytime Phoebe would make her way near him, he'd leave or walk the other way. I even witnessed him tip toeing around a sleeping Phoebe in the kitchen on the way to the bathroom.

Chaos hadn't been much of a problem, except for one incident when I had to run out of the shower dripping wet with only a towel wrapped around me to touch Vincent, talk about awkward situations. I had heard Priya shriek and I could only think of one reason why she would scream like that.

◊◊

"Hey Vincent!!" I yelled down the hallway. It was around five thirty in the afternoon and his cell phone was sitting on the coffee table ringing. He came out of his bedroom still dressed in his pajamas from the previous night. I bought him another pair of black ones; except these ones were silk and it had a matching long sleeved silk shirt to go with it. He still wore his red bandana though. One of these days I will ask him to take that thing off so I can see his face. He didn't need to ask what I had called him for he walked quickly over to his phone and answered it. I didn't want to look nosey, but I couldn't help but stand off to the side and eavesdrop.

"Hello?" Vincent relaxed against my couch.

"Cloud I…"

"Ok." He sighed loudly.

"So you will pick me up at noon tomorrow? Wait…." Vincent held his phone away from his face for a moment and turned to me.

"Are you busy tomorrow?" he asked me. I stopped pretending like I was organizing the books on the shelf and shook my head no.

"Do you need a ride somewhere? Or you just need me with you?"

"I just need you with me." That statement could be taken way out of context, but I knew what he meant. He needed me around incase of Chaos.

"Sure I'm not busy. Is Tifa busy? Because I want Priya to be with her while I'm gone so she's safe."

"Is Tifa busy?" Vincent repeated to Cloud.

"No, she's not." Vincent didn't even turn to me or wait for another response before carrying on his short conversation with Cloud. When he closed his cell phone I went over and sat next to him on the couch. He turned his hand over so his palm was facing me. I assumed he wanted me to hold it so I took it in my own.

"So…what's going on?" I picked up the remote and turned from cartoons to music videos. A premier of Nelly Furtado's new music video All Good things (Come to an End) was showing. I turned the volume up a few notches.

"A man named Reeve wishes to speak with me." Vincent held his cell phone in his golden claw and opened it again. There was a text message from Yuffie asking "What's up Vinny?"

I nodded; I tapped my feet rhythmically against the coffee table. Priya skipped into the living room carrying a Barbie with a miniature hot pink brush all tangled up in its long blond hair.

"Mommy! Her hair's messed up." She tossed the Barbie into my lap. She jumped up on the couch as well and took a sneaky glance at Vincent. He was busy texting Yuffie back. I tried working the brush out of the doll's hair but it wasn't budging. I decided Barbie was going to need a haircut. I left the two sitting on the couch together as I went to my room for a pair of scissors.

◊ **Vincent's POV ◊ **

How does she send messages so fast? I wondered as I received the next message from Yuffie within seconds of sending her one. It read "So, how's Vinaya? Vinny you aren't gaming her are you?" Gaming? What is she talking about? I suddenly felt aware of a pair of eyes staring me down. I glanced over at Priya who had now scooted closer proceeding to look down at my phone.

"Can you read?" I asked her. She crawled towards me on the couch and looked down at my cell phone.

"That's mommy's name." she pointed her small finger towards the word Vinaya. I then allowed this child to witness a very rare thing. I smiled at her. Her face lit up and she giggled, the next thing I knew the young girl reached out and grabbed my left arm.

"Why is it like this?" she ran her little fingers up and down it. My face was drained from all the rare emotion I had showed. Images of Hojo and Lucrecia filled my mine and I looked away from the girl, pulling my arm away from her.

"It's hard to explain. You wouldn't understand." My voice had returned to its normal cold monotone. She then backed away from me, but didn't take her eyes off of my face. I glanced at her once then sent Yuffie another message stating I was done talking and goodbye. I was thankful to hear Vinaya's footsteps coming down the hall.

"Here Priya, now go play." After giving back the doll, she shooed the little girl off.

◊ **Vinaya's POV ◊**

Now was the time. I've been determined to ask Vincent some personal questions about his past and about why he was so hesitant to help with Deepground. Its taken 2 days, but I've finally built up the confidence and I _will_ do this. I turned to Vincent and opened my mouth to speak. His dark red eyes were already on mine.

"So…uh…Vincent…" I started those eyes stared into mine as if reading my mind and soul. I blinked to remove the distraction. "What exactly got you in this whole position?"

"What position?" his quickly asked back. His hand crept over mine and I felt chills go through my body. This can't be happening. I can't start becoming attracted to this man. What am I saying I already am! But how could I ever tell if he's touching me because he wants to or because he needs to?

"This whole demon thing. My sister was dying of an unknown disease when she was nine years old and some scientist put Mateus' genes in her to revive her. They told us this wouldn't affect her at all, but later we found out that this was just an experiment to see if those types of genes could revive a person. But she remained mortal, like she still aged." I looked up at Vincent's eyes again to make sure he was paying attention. He was indeed very attentive.

"I was shot, and then taken advantage of. Someone put Chaos' genes in me also to revive me." His grip tightened on my hand and I leaned my head on the silk material of his shoulder. His whole body tensed up, but I ignored it.

"Who shot you?"

"Hojo."

"Who revived you?"

"Luc…recia." The answer sounded like it was painful to say. I sat up straight again and looked at him.

"Was she…."

"I don't wish to speak of her anymore." He let go of my hand and stood up. He walked down the hall and into his bedroom shutting the door. I sighed loudly. I looked at the clock and realized it was time to start dinner.

After dinner was fully prepared and Priya was already digging in, I walked down the hall and knocked softly on Vincent's door. There was no response, but I entered anyway. This is my house after all. Vincent was back in the chair looking out of the window.

"Vincent, dinner's ready." I said gently. It was dark in his room all except for the faint light from outside, the sun was setting, and I could see from where I stood how beautiful the sky looked tonight. I walked up behind him and put my hand on his shoulder. "Vincent, I'm sorry for trying to pry into your personal business. If you don't want to talk about it, I understand, but believe me Vincent life is so much better when you just let things go."

"I can't." He closed his eyes. "I deserve to suffer everyday. I deserve the pain."

"Vincent." I whispered almost welling up. I am not a crier, I haven't cried in 4 years since the day Priya was born. But something about this man just touched my heart.

"It's my fault she's gone. It's my fault I'm like this. I was weak, still am. I don't want to fight against Deepground because I'm afraid to fail again." Vincent had just given me all the answers I wanted to hear. I couldn't stop myself from doing what I did next. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders from behind and buried my face into his silky hair. He used my shampoo!!

"Vincent I've been there, trust me. I told myself I was worthless. Priya's father left me like I was nothing; I killed my family like it was nothing. I almost aborted Priya at first because I didn't want to _fail_ again. I thought surely I would be a terrible mother, but things are alright now because I let all those negative feelings go. Your friends helped me pull through, Yuffie and Tifa watched Priya while she was still an infant because I went through deep post partum depression, did drugs, and almost lost my own life. Don't ever let yourself get that way, Vincent." I let go of him and held my hand out for him to take. "Come on, dinner's getting cold and I'm starvin like Marvin."

Vincent raised an eyebrow at me first, then took my hand. I didn't give him a chance to respond to my story, but I really hoped he took it to heart.

◊ **Vincent's POV ◊**

After dinner I showered and changed into a new set of pajamas that consisted of dark blue striped pants and a black T-shirt. I couldn't stop thinking about what Vinaya had told me. Part of me wanted to trust her and let her in, but a bigger part of me just wanted to keep my feelings and memories inside. But it is true, these negative feelings are eating me alive, I must learn to let them go. I can't live on like this. As I walked back to my bedroom I saw Vinaya sitting in the living room alone looking a one of her photo albums. I approached her slowly and looked over her shoulder. She instantly became aware of my presence.

"Oh! Vincent. You want to look?" She smiled up at me. I looked down at her face. I can't deny that she is a beautiful woman; her perfect smile is going to break me one of these days. But I'm sure these feelings aren't mutual. She couldn't possibly find me attractive in anyway. I'm practically a monster. Allowing myself to have feelings for this woman would only bring me more pain, she can't break my heart because it's already broken, she'd only step on the pieces. Looking at me seems to make her uneasy even, I noticed as she turned away under my stare. I continued to lean over the back of the couch and look at the pictures rather than sit next to her. Her sister was also very beautiful along with her mother. I couldn't begin to imagine what it would be like feeling responsible for the death of my family. When she reached the end of the photo album she put it back on the shelf and stood in front of me.

"Well, Good night Vincent." There was that smile again. I merely nodded in response and headed to my bedroom as well. I laid down in the comfortable bed and stared up at the ceiling. I started to wonder what Reeve wanted with me. If he's going to try to beg me to help with Deepground I'm going to leave Edge.


	6. Departure

**The Touch of Your Flesh**

**Departure**

"Ready?"

"Hm."

"Let's go." Cloud said as he took off. I held on tight to Cloud while Vincent held on to me, all of us on Fenrir. Tifa had come and gotten Priya about an hour ago because she was taking the children to the park.

Vincent had both of his arms wrapped around me and his hand was slipped under my light pink T-shirt touching my stomach. With each sharp turn or bump in the road, his hand slid left or right sending little electric shocks throughout my body. I wondered if he knew just what he was doing to me. I felt completely relieved when Cloud slowed, and stopped in front of a small restaurant. Although we had stopped, Vincent let his hand linger for a moment, then finally removed it and got off the bike.

"I'd rather speak with Reeve alone." Vincent walked past Cloud and I without giving either of us so much as a glance. We both stopped in our tracks and decided to wait outside.

"So uh… Tifa told me to ask how things are with Vincent." Cloud leaned up against a wooden pillar connected to the building. I sat down on the wooden steps near the pillar.

"Things are fine. Although he's very quiet sometimes. I got him to open up a little bit about his past and I told him all about mine." I drummed my fingers along the wood step. "Is he scared of cats?"

Cloud chuckled softly. "I think so. Yuffie used to tease him about that all the time. He got really mad her once and scared us all. I take it he doesn't like Phoebe." I shook my head no.

"What happened to this Lucrecia woman?" What a change of subject. My curiosity about her had grown over the past three days, but I was afraid to ask Vincent about her myself.

"Uh…well, I think she committed suicide, but I don't know. All I know is her body is frozen somewhere in a cave. Vincent still goes there sometimes. If you hadn't have found him in the Forgotten City, we would have taken you there."

"Why would she commit suicide?" I kept checking the door to make sure Vincent wasn't on his way out. I don't think he'd be too happy about me out here prying into his business, he wouldn't tell me much himself so I doubt he wanted me to hear from other people.

"She felt guilty about everything that happened to Vincent. She was married to Hojo, who was a mad scientist. She even had Hojo's baby…Sephiroth."

"What!?" Cloud then shushed me.

"what?" I repeated in a whisper. I checked the door one more time before standing up next to Cloud.

"Yeah it's true. Vincent was or is in love with Sephiroth's mother." I couldn't believe my ears, I wanted to march right into that restaurant and slap Vincent across his face. How could he be so depressed and so love sick over a person like that? I thought Vincent was smarter than that. I crossed my arms and sighed.

"That's surprising. I mean, did Vincent know? Did he know she was married? Did he realize what Sephiroth was going to become?"

"Yeah he knew. He didn't care. I guess he spent a lot of time with her and knew her well as a person. Maybe Hojo had her under his little spell. He could have been doing experiments on her for all we know. And Vincent blames himself for not being able to save her. I don't know if he knew about the whole Sephiroth thing. No one could have really known, except maybe Hojo."

"True, maybe he didn't know about that and maybe Lucrecia was heavily under Hojo's influence. I don't know, it still seems a little crazy to me. She must have had a hell of a personality and looks to kill."

"We never had this discussion." Cloud looked at me with his serious blue eyes. I nodded and as if on cue, Vincent came out of the restaurant and down the stairs. Today he wore a red buttoned down short sleeved shirt with another pair of black dress pants, courtesy of yours truly. I wanted to smile when I saw him because I did such a good job in dressing him. His red bandana went perfectly with the shirt.

"I'm leaving Edge tonight." He said simply. "Let's go." I no longer wanted to smile. How could he leave now, didn't we make a promise that he would stay a week?

"Vincent!" Cloud yelled. "Did Reeve tell you everything? You're their target! Aren't you going to stay and fight?"

"You're not running away are you?" I asked. Vincent stopped in his tracks and turned to the both of us.

"I'll fight alone." His had a fierce look in his eyes, and I knew he was serious. I mentally cursed myself for feeling so sad that he was leaving. I knew this day was coming soon.

"Why?" Cloud took a few steps towards Vincent as did I.

"Because this is my battle." We all got back on Cloud's bike and he took us back to my home. Vincent didn't even bother to make contact with my flesh on the way back. I hated to admit I was looking forward to that.

Once we got to my house, Vincent went to his room and shut the door. He was in there almost an hour before he came out dressed in the outfit I found him in, cloak and all. Over that hour he had spent in there, Tifa had dropped Priya off.

"Vincent, please have a meal with us before you leave." I stood in front of him in the hallway. He looked down into my eyes and nodded. Priya poked her head out of her room and saw Vincent dressed like he was ready to go somewhere.

"Are you leaving?" she came fully out of her room and stood behind him. He turned around, now with his back facing me. I went to the kitchen to start cooking.

◊ **Vincent's POV ◊**

"Yes." I answered the young girl. She looked up at me before taking my bare hand in hers. I still didn't have my glove from the day Vinaya and I met and she took it off my hand and threw it aside. I instantly began to feel the shocks of relaxation that Vinaya's touch gave me. I squeezed her hand and bent down on my knees so I was almost eye level to the child. I turned away from her. "Vinaya."

Vinaya ran around the corner, assuming I was in pain.

"I'm fine. Priya has your gift." I watched Vinaya's dark eyes widen. She got down on her knees as well and took her daughter's shoulders in her hands.

"Priya! You won't understand this now, but when you get older you will. You have a very special gift that helps people who are sick. Just by touching their skin with yours." She glanced back at me with a look that I guessed meant she didn't want to mention demon in front of the young girl as it would disturb her.

"Is Vincent sick?" Priya turned back to me. Seeing her mother and her so close together I was amazed at how similar they looked even in the look they were both giving me.

Vinaya nodded then smiled at me. Priya put her hand on my cheek. "All better?" she asked in her high pitch voice.

I nodded causing her to giggle. Vinaya laughed out loud. I was the only one not laughing at the moment, I didn't even smile. How could I at a time like this? I finally find a place where it seems I'm wanted, and I have to leave because I am a target of Deepground, actually…the target of Hojo. But I will end this and destroy him once and for all. There is no way I'm letting him use the protomateria Lucrecia gave to me to control Omega. This ends now. Vinaya stopped laughing when she noticed my serious look. Priya took her hand from my face and ran to the living room when she heard the start of her favorite cartoon.

"Vincent, what did Reeve say to you?" Vinaya and I stood and I followed her to the kitchen. I sighed loudly before answering.

"I don't know exactly how but Hojo's still…alive…well he's not alive, but he is wants to use the protomateria that I was given to control Chaos, to control Omega and destroy the planet. He's using the body of a man named Weiss, and these Deepground people worship this Weiss, therefore like Hojo, they want me dead." I took a seat at her kitchen table and watched her rummage through her cabinets.

"Oooh. So are you sure you'll be alright alone?"

"I'll be fine."

◊ **Vinaya's POV ◊**

I decided on just hamburger helper, green beans and corn for dinner. The silence in the kitchen after a few minutes was killing me so I turned on the radio and listened quietly to Hung Up by Madonna. After I finished preparing the meal I called Priya in to come and eat.

I kept trying to look at Vincent, but each time I did he was already staring back at me. I got the feeling he wanted to say something to me, but he wouldn't. The song Hung Up faded out and We Belong Together by Gavin DeGraw started up. I decided to start the conversation.

"Vincent, I just want you to know, if you _ever_ need anything please call me, ok? And you are welcome here _any_ time."

"Thank you… for everything."His crimson eyes bore into mine. I held eye contact with him for a few moments. When I couldn't stand it anymore I looked back down at my food. Once our early dinner was over I followed Vincent to the door. He put his hand on the door knob and turned back to me.

"Goodbye."

"Bye, Vincent…" I couldn't hide the sadness in my voice which caused Vincent to tilt his head down a little so he could see my face better under my long bangs.

"Don't worry about me, I'm not worth it."

"Vincent don't say that." I said softly as I looked up at him. "Just…just promise me you'll come back sometime and visit us."

"I've stopped making promises."

I sighed and looked down at his golden boots. "I'll call you everyday, you better answer your phone or I'll assume you're dead and come looking for you." I faked a smile and watched him shake his head I couldn't tell if he was smirking behind that cloak, but it seemed so.

"Ok." He replied. He opened the door and I followed him out onto the porch. Priya did as well.

"Bye Vince!!" she waved and grinned at him. I laughed at the cute nickname she had just given him. He held up his hand and wave slightly to her then looked up at me again. I walked up to him and threw my arms around him.

"Hug me, damnit." I laughed when I realized Vincent was just standing their stiff, with his arms down by his sides. He slowly and very gently placed his arms around me; his hands were placed high on my back. His hug was very gentle as if he thought he would break me if his pressed any harder. He was also the first to pull away. I instantly looked away feeling a little embarrassed, but what if I never see this man again I wanted to at least know what if felt like being in his arms and now I did.

"Bye." He whispered to me while we were still close.

"Goodbye Vincent." I stood on the porch on the verge of tears as I watched him walk down my stairs and onto the sidewalk. I then thought of a way he would _have_ to come back.

"Hey Vincent! Take my flight car!!" I yelled pointing to the little red vehicle near him, on the street.

"Are you sure? I…I can't. It might not come back in one piece."

"I don't care about the car, Vincent. If you walk, it's going to take you weeks to get where you're going. Just take it. If you crash it, then you'll just have to find a job so you can buy me a new one, that's all." I laughed again to let him know I was only joking. I don't give a damn about that car; I only cared about Vincent's well being at this point.

"Keys?" he asked after standing there looking at me for a couple minutes.

"Oh!" How stupid of me. I ran inside and grabbed the keys off of the end table in the living room. I ran back outside and up to Vincent again. I handed him the keys as he sat down on the flight car. I then held my hand out to him. "Touch it real fast for good luck." Vincent held his hand up to mine and I noticed how much larger his hand was compared to my little hand. I squeezed my eyes shut and used as much energy as I could to put Chaos in a deep sleep so he wouldn't bother Vincent on his way to wherever he was heading. I opened my eyes after a brief moment and looked back down at Vincent. He pulled his cloak down a bit, and gave me a very tiny smile before jetting off with my fight car. I prayed silently that he would be ok.


	7. Phone Calls

**The Touch of Your Flesh**

**Phone Calls**

Two days have gone by and no word from Vincent. I didn't call him right away because I didn't want to annoy him. Surely he would last more than a day. It was a little after nine o'clock and I had just made sure Priya was in bed. I sat on the end of my bed grabbed my cell phone off the end of my dresser. Just yesterday I had called Cloud and got Vincent's number. Part of me was scared to call for the fear of him not answering, the other part of me over powered my doubtful thoughts and I dialed his number.

One ring…two rings…three….four….

"…This is Vincent."

"Vincent!!" I cheered. A wave of relief fell over me and I threw myself back on my bed, my head colliding with the soft white pillows. I smiled. "Do you know who this is?"

"Vinaya." His voice sounded even more seductive over the phone. I smiled wider at the sound of my name leaving his lips.

"Yeah. So, how are you?"

"Fine." He replied softly. I heard him shuffling around, and then I heard the click of a television being turned on.

"Where are you?" I twirled my hair in my fingers as I laid there flat on my back staring up at the white ceiling.

"Kalm. I'm staying in an Inn for the night." I heard him sigh and the very faint sounds of bedsprings could be heard. I then heard a loud explosion.

"What was that?!"

"Fireworks. It seems there's a festival going on here." He answered.

"Mmm…festival, that sounds fun. I should have come with you."

I heard a very light, short chuckle escape from his throat. He cleared it afterwards as if he didn't mean to let that slip.

"Well, I'm glad you're alright, Vincent. I just wanted to call and see what was going on. I guess if you want to rest, I'll leave you alone." I sighed not really wanting to let him go. It was so soothing hearing his deep, velvety voice on the other end of my cell phone. I could fall asleep listening to it.

"Ok. Please…" he paused for a moment.

"Yes Vincent?" I rolled over on my side and traced lines that I had made in the sheets with my finger.

"Don't worry about me."

"Vincent that's impossible. I won't call you tomorrow, but day after be expecting my phone call, ok?" I got under the sheets and rested my head on the pillow.

Vincent sighed. "…ok. Goodbye."

"Bye." I heard him hang up and I reluctantly shut my phone as well. I reached up and turned off my lamp. It took a while for sleep to consume me, but when it finally did I was taken off into rather strange dream.

◊ **Vincent's POV ◊**

Must that woman waste her time worrying for me? I tossed my phone aside and looked up at the TV. A crew and its members have gone missing. This world is full of troubles, is it not? No sooner had I turned away from the TV I noticed outside of my window, a bomb being dropped from a helicopter onto one of the buildings. I instantly heard the screaming of all the people who were previously celebrating. I stood at the window and noticed the helicopter was aiming its bullets at me; I jumped from the window seal to the roof of the building across the street shooting at the helicopter in the process. These Deepground people are no match for me and I will let this be known.

◊ **Vinaya's POV ◊**

Yet again another two days passed by. Tifa came by to visit me today; she had called Vincent earlier that day, but received no answer. This instantly instilled fear in me, but I kept it cool until later that night. I figured late at night would be a better time for him to talk, because he would most likely be travelling during the day. I laid down in my bed again and dialed his number.

It rang up to five times….then six… I was just about to hang up when.

"...hello?"

"Vincent? Are you ok? Where are you?" I hugged my pillow close to me with my left arm and rested my head on top of it. My lamp was already turned off so the only light in my room was from the moon. It was almost eleven o'clock.

He sighed. "I'm in a ditch dying."

"What?!" I sat straight up and threw my pillow aside. I turned on my lamp and swung my legs over off the side of the bed.

"Vinaya, I'm fine. I just evacuated an entire camp of Deepground and I'm about to sleep in one of their tents." I could picture Vincent sitting in a tent on the verge of laughter at my gullible nature.

"Don't play with me like that! Vincent it's not funny." I lay back down in my bed, but left the lamp on.

"I'm not laughing."

"You never laugh." I pointed out. Never once had I heard this man laugh or even seen him fully smile.

"True."

There was an awkward silence that followed his last word. I broke it with a random question.

"Vincent? What's your favorite food?"

"Hm? Uh…" he seemed to be caught off guard by the randomness. "Actually I am quite fond of pizza. Extra cheese if you will." I laughed out loud at the thought of Vincent Valentine chowing down on a huge slice of pizza with cheese going everywhere. I didn't hear him laughing with me so I stopped.

"…and your favorite color?"

"Red. Couldn't you have guessed?" I couldn't stop smiling; Vincent actually has a small sense of humor! I wanted so badly to be sitting in that tent with him wherever he was.

"Oh, right I should have known. Want to know mine?"

"Mm hmm."

"It's…" I stopped when I heard Vincent gasped followed by a few gunshots. "Vincent?!"

"It's nothing; there are just really large bugs out here." I laughed again at the thought of Vincent jumping up and pulling his gun on an insect. I didn't know if they were really large or if he was just exaggerating.

"Its blue, light blue like the sky." I looked over at the empty spot in my bed; I couldn't help myself from wishing Vincent could be the man that would fill it one day.

"Ah…" Vincent replied. "Like the colors in your living room?"

"Right! Vincent, do you like music?"

"I…don't really listen to it often, I suppose it's nice."

◊ **Vincent's POV ◊**

I was surprised to find this mindless chatter a bit interesting. It took my mind of the dangers ahead, and the problems I would soon have to face. I could lay here in this dingy tent, on this uncomfortable mat for hours talking about nothing with her. I imagined her beautiful face lighting up each time I heard her laughter through the phone. I longed for this battle to end so that maybe I could return to her, if she'd have me. Although my suffering can never fully be ended because I will always have the constant reminder of failing my dear Lucrecia, these new feelings for Vinaya helped ease my mind and allowed me to feel a little less worthless. She made me feel as if my existence on this planet still mattered, as the past year I've felt it didn't.

After I hung up with Vinaya, I felt the pain again. I closed my eyes and used all the will power in me to stop Chaos from taking over but I failed. All I could see was red and the next thing I knew I really_ was_ laying in a ditch with a purple wolf creature progressing towards me. I held Cerberus to its temple and pulled the trigger, and off to my next destination.

◊ **Vinaya's POV ◊**

I didn't hang up with Vincent that night until almost one in the morning. I felt bad for keeping him up so late, but I really enjoyed getting to know another side of him and learning all the little silly details about him like his favorite things. He admitted to his fear of cats, he claimed it was because of a really bad experience with two cats in an alley when he was a child.

Vincent and I continued keeping in touch over our cell phones for the next three weeks. Two days after Vincent and I had last spoken, Tifa came to my house around noon. She had been calling Vincent as well, but was unable to get a hold of him.

"Hey, Vinaya. What's been going on, is he ok?" Tifa plopped down on my couch and tossed her long brown hair back. Cloud was gone again so I guess she was lonely, she hardly ever wanted to come over and "hang out" otherwise.

"Yeah, he always says he's fine. I'll call him again tonight."

"I wonder why he only answers _your_ calls." Tifa grinned at me and began laughing an evil laugh. I rolled my eyes and fell back against the couch.

"Don't start, you and Yuffie are going to drive me crazy."

"What? I think Vincent _likes_ you. Yuffie thinks so too." Her grin widened and she giggled. I threw a pillow from the couch at her hitting her square in the nose.

"Ow! C'mon Vinaya, you know you think Vincent's hot too. Admit it! You like him! Vincent and Vinaya sittin in a tree…."

"Shut up!" I couldn't hold back my smile which only caused the teasing to worsen. "Ok, ok shut up. I like Vincent, ok! But please don't say anything. I don't know if he feels the same way. And even if he did, I don't know if he wants a relationship. I don't even know if _I_ want a relationship, so please this is a secret between me and you. Don't even think about telling Yuffie."

"Awww, this is too sweet. I'm so happy for you two." She tossed the pillow back to me and I placed it where it belonged. "Its about time Vincent finds someone better than Lucrecia."

"I don't want to compare myself to her. She was obviously very special to him, he's still upset about it, I can tell, so I don't want to touch on that subject yet. And that's another reason why I don't want anyone to say anything about me liking Vincent. What if he just can't get over her and doesn't want anyone else."

"Think positively. I mean honestly, why would Vincent even have stayed here as long as he did? He's not the type to just stay in one place for long, that's why it's so hard to keep up with that man."

I sighed and scratched my head. "I've even started to lose hair. I haven't done this since I was crushing on Priya's father. Man, I hate men all they do is create stress." Tifa and I laughed for a while. She continued to tell me about her situation with Cloud. I didn't want to sound mean, but Cloud doesn't really seem to have any romantic feelings towards Tifa as she does for him. Unless he just has his own strange way of showing it. Tifa didn't leave my house until quarter to nine at night. As soon as she was out the door I went to my bedroom and called Vincent. As the phone rang a couple of times I tossed by white T-shirt off and sat on the edge of my bed in my black bra and black windbreaker capris.

After several rings I heard Vincent's voice and almost tried talking back but I realized it was just his voice mail. "You've reached Vincent Valentine. If what you have to say is important leave a message."

I hung up and dialed again. It rang several times again then finally.

"…." I heard a slight groan.

"Vincent?"

"Yes." His voice was merely a whisper.

"Are you ok?"

"I'm coming back to Edge tomorrow." He didn't sound too cheerful. I was hoping he would be happy to return here.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm just really weak from trying to control Chaos all this time; I just need to rest for a while. It seems Deepground is lying low as well. They must have come to realize that I am a force to be reckoned with. This battle will end in the destruction of Deepground and the death of Hojo for good."

"Right on! That's the way to think, Vincent I'm happy to hear you thinking positively for a change."

"Hmm."

"So I'll see you soon? How's my flight car?"

"I didn't put a scratch on it. And…I should be there early tomorrow morning. Am I still welcome in your home?"

"Vincent what kind of question is that? Of course! Get your crazy ass back here so I can stop worrying about you." I laughed. I pulled the covers up to my chin and shut off the lamp.

"You needn't worry."

"Ok. Well goodnight Vincent."

"Bye."

I hung up and tossed my phone on the floor beside my bed. A rush of excitement flooded my body as I realized I would get to see Vincent tomorrow for the first time in a month.


	8. Back Home

**The Touch Of Your Flesh**

**Back Home**

After dropping Priya off at her bus stop, I walked back to my house in my light jean skirt and long, tight fitted pink tank top. I wore my hair down and even put a few curls in it, I was also wearing make up! I know for sure I like Vincent now otherwise I would not feel the need to do any of this. My high heels clicked rhythmically as I walked down the narrow sidewalk. I noticed something red gleaming in the sun on my front yard. My flight car! Vincent! I then started running, sounding like a horse trotting in my heels. I spotted Vincent sitting on my porch swing slowly rocking back and forth.

"Vincent!" I cheered running up the three porch steps. He stood and looked down at me. If he did smile I couldn't see it behind his cloak. He followed me to the front door and I noticed he had a limp.

"Vincent?"

He breathed a "Hm?" through his nose.

"You're hurt." I said once we were both inside the house. I looked up into his crimson eyes with dark circles around them. He looked completely exhausted and could hardly stand up straight without wavering slightly.

"I fell trying to save your flight car." He slowly walked over to the couch and sat down. He pulled off his boots and set them off to the side. I watched as he undid the buckles of his cloak and tossed it over his boots. He rolled up his pant leg to reveal a terrible looking gash in his calf. I saw him wince at the sight of it. I gasped.

"Oh my…." I quickly kicked off my high heels and ran to the cabinet in the hallway. I got out all of my first aid stuff and set in all on the coffee table in the living room. I propped Vincent's leg upon the table and swallowed hard as I took a warm wash cloth to it trying to clean off all the dried blood from it. Vincent didn't flinch or show any emotion although I know my touching it must have hurt him. I put some medication on a cotton ball and dabbed it onto the wound as gently as possible, blowing on it lightly afterwards. This time Vincent did flinch and even hissed a little at the burning pain. I probably should have warned him that this stuff was going to burn like hell.

"Sorry." I said quickly. My eyes met his for a quick second, and then I noticed that **Vincent Valentine** sent a quick glance right up my skirt. I had completely forgotten that I was even wearing a skirt as I was squatting down in front of him with my legs open.

I jumped slightly as Vincent reached his claw hand out towards me. I then relaxed once I saw him reach past me and pick up the medicine bottle and read the label. I wanted to slap myself for jumping on conclusions. He's a _man_ of course he was going to look, but he's a gentleman so he would never touch.

"I know it burned, but it will help this heal so much faster. Vincent I really didn't care about the flight car, you shouldn't have injured yourself trying to save it. But at least you weren't shot!" I said cheerfully clapping my hands together and grinning up at him. He was too busy staring at his bandaged leg. A minute later he responded.

"I would never stoop as low as to be touched by a Deepground bullet." He said that sentence so harshly with such a fierce look, it scared me. I stood up and gathered all of my first aid stuff together. I felt Vincent's eyes on me again and quickly thought of something to say.

"Vincent, would you like to get comfortable and change into your pajamas? The clothes I bought you are all still in the dresser. Nothing in your room has been touched since you left. Well… I made the bed." I laughed nervously. I held my hand out to him and he took it.

"I'd like that." He stood slowly and limped beside me down the hallway. He sent a suspicious glare towards Phoebe who was lying at the end of the hallway near his bedroom door.

"Oh Vincent, come in here really quick I want to give you something." I said pulling Vincent into my bedroom. I watched him look all around the room. This was the first time he had ever been inside my bedroom; actually this was the first time any male had been in my bedroom. Priya's father had never come into my bedroom. He wasn't allowed in my house when I lived with my parents, and he left me before I bought this house.

My bedroom was mostly red, white and black much like the kitchen. The bed spread was red with black and white swirly designs on it. The carpet was white, but a red rug was placed in front of my black dresser and in front of my closet that had two black sliding doors.

"You can have a seat on the bed if you want." I said as I dug through my underwear drawer where I keep anything valuable. "Ah ha! Here it is. Vincent, the next time you go off to fight Deepground take this with you." I walked over and sat next to him on the bed. I took his wrist in my hand and put the silver bracelet on him, it had one single charm in a diamond-like shape with my initials engraved in fancy letters.

"Why?" he looked down at the bracelet and studied the charm for a moment.

"It will bring you good luck, and it's another thing that will keep Chaos under control, it doesn't have the same strong effect as my flesh does, but it will help you. Even if Chaos takes over you, with this you may be able to control his form." I explained, he nodded then looked back down at me. Those eyes… and those lips…I am going to go crazy one of these days. I turned away from him and out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw a hurt expression cross his face for a brief moment. He then cleared his throat before saying.

"Thank you. Vinaya, I will never be able to repay you for all the help you've given me." The tone of his voice was much softer than usual. I smiled at him as he stood and walked to the door.

"Vincent, your company is payment enough." He froze in the doorway for a moment then continued on across the hall to his own bedroom without saying a word.

A couple of hours later I decided I should fix Vincent something to eat because he was probably starved. I thought about it for a moment and decided to order his favorite food. The pizza was delivered to my house around noon and I carried the warm box into my kitchen and sat it on top of my black stove. I skipped down the hall with a smile on my face and slowly opened Vincent's door to find him fast asleep on his bed with no shirt on. It seemed he had managed to get into his black pajama pants, but was too tired to put on the shirt because it was lying on his bed next to him. His other clothes were in a pile next to his dresser. I giggled quietly when I heard a light snore escape the body lying on the bed. He must have really been exhausted. I tip toed over to him and squatted down beside the bed so my face was less than a foot from his. God, Vincent is so damn handsome. He's wearing that damn bandana even while he sleeps! When will I ever get to see this man's full face? I ran my finger tips down his soft cheek and along his jaw line. I instantly snatched my hand away when he furrowed his brow and let out a deep sigh. He then began to snore lightly again which caused me to laugh quietly. "Vincent." I gently pulled on a long lock of his silky hair. His eyes snapped open and he rolled over onto his back I noticed his cheeks seemed to hold a more pinkish shade than they had before as he realized he lay there shirtless before me. I kept my eyes on his face and as much as I wanted to, didn't allow them to explore anywhere else.

"Uh….I ordered a pizza." I smiled at him, if it weren't for my cappuccino colored light brown skin, my cheeks would have shown a pink color as well as I felt heat rise to my face.

"My favorite?" he sent me a small smirk before he sat up and quickly put on his shirt. He looked up at me with a raised eyebrow waiting for my answer. I nodded and smiled again. Why am I suddenly becoming so flustered around him? I put my hair behind both ears and left the room.

◊ **Vincent's POV ◊**

The enticing smell of cheese pizza filled my nostrils and I was hot on her trail as we walked down the hallway. She handed me a bright red glass plate and opened the pizza box. She took the first small piece and I took the largest piece. We sat together at her table and ate quietly. I felt as if I were in heaven as the warm melted cheese hit my taste buds. I ate slowly savoring every bite as if this were the last time I would have such a treat. I noticed Vinaya appeared to be biting back laughter as she glanced up at me several times.

"Something funny?" I sat the crust of the piece of pizza down on my plate and fixed my eyes on her. I'm not afraid or ashamed to admit I am highly attracted to her. Whoever Priya's father was must not have been a smart man. She shook her head quickly and waved her hand.

"No, no, sorry."

"Funny stories are refreshing." I crossed my arms and rested my elbows on the table leaning towards her, pressuring her to admit whatever she was finding funny. Plus, I loved hearing that gorgeous laugh.

"You snore." She said simply before laughing out loud. "But it was cute."

I looked down at the plate as I felt the heat rise to my face again. Had she been watching me while I slept? "Cute…" I muttered aloud, but I was saying it to myself. How could anyone describe any detail about me as being cute?

◊ **Vinaya's POV ◊**

After eating pizza with Vincent, it was almost time to go and get Priya. "Vincent I'll be right back ok. I've gotta stop by the store for some stuff and pick up Priya."

"Ok." He plopped down on the couch and leaned his head back against it closing his eyes. I was so happy to see Vincent was finally becoming comfortable in my house. I remembered at first how cautious he was about everything. How he walked around very carefully afraid to touch anything as if he were going to break it. How out of place he looked and must have felt. I was glad to see him fitting in here.

"I'll be really quick." I said again before shutting the door behind me. I held my chest as I trotted down the three porch steps. This has got to be the biggest crush I've ever had and I can't even act on it. I don't want to scare Vincent away. Plus he's got this battle to fight. What if he gets killed?! Then I am left alone heart broken again. My heart can't take another break I can't go through that again. I've got to fight off these feelings; there is no way I can let myself fall for Vincent Valentine. It wouldn't even last! I will grow old and ugly one day and he'll still be young and handsome. He may have six years on me now, but those years will pass by so fast. My mind continued to race with endless thoughts and doubts about my situation as I sped down the street in my flight car, I wasn't even paying attention to where I was going and how _fast_ I was going. I slowed down in just enough time to make my turn and park at Priya's preschool.

"Mommy!!" she cheered as she ran up to my car and hopped on behind me.

"Priya!" I cheered back. "Guess who's back."

"Who?" She asked against my back.

"Vincent. He's really tired, and his leg's hurt so don't bother him." I started up the car and spun in around in the right direction.

"But if I touch it, he'll be all better right?" she asked as I took off.

"Right, but he needs rest too sweetie so just try to be quiet." I warned her. I didn't think Vincent was ready to deal with a wound up four year old.

**Thanks for all the reviews!**

I'll try harder to catch the typos, but my Microsoft Word 2007 never catches real grammar errors Sorry. Anyways I'm glad people like my story. It all came from a weird dream I had one night after spending 3 hours playing Doc.


	9. Chaotic Gossip

**The Touch of Your Flesh**

**Chaotic Gossip**

◊ **Vincent's POV ◊**

Why is it that I feel I'm being watched? I asked myself as I lay there half asleep on Vinaya's couch. I sat up and looked around the room.

"Vincent. You're 'posed to be resting. Mommy said." I heard a little voice behind me. I turned sharply to see Priya leaning over the couch. I sat up further and looked at the floor behind the couch to see that Priya had stacked 3 thick photo albums and was standing on them. I knew she was shorter than that.

"Priya! I told you to leave Vincent alone!" Vinaya came down the hallway carrying a basket of dirty clothes. She had changed out of her previous outfit and into a pair of light green pajama pants and a big white T-shirt that reached her knees. Her gorgeous hair was pulled up in a bun on the top of her head with her bangs still swooping over one of her eyes.

"He's not sleeping mommy." Priya argued.

"Because you're bothering him!" Vinaya argued back.

"She's fine." I broke in. For some odd reason I didn't like seeing that sad pouty look on Priya's face. It didn't suit her. I gave the young girl a small smile. She giggled and ran around to the front of the couch and hopped up into my lap, slightly brushing my injured leg in the process. I did not let this show. Vinaya could only stare in shock, but eventually left the room and continued with her chores.

"Vince?" I had my eyes fixed on the blank TV trying to avoid her curious ones. I am not one who is good with children. Why again did I stop Vinaya? Oh…that pouty face.

"Hm?" I tensed up as the little girl ran her fingers through my hair. I don't particularly like having long hair, nor do I care to cut it. I wasn't exactly comfortable with people playing in it either.

"Why are you sick?" once her fingers reached the ends of my hair she started again at the top of my head pushing my bandana over my eyes in the process.

"I don't know…. how to explain." I tried to fix the bandana put failed and it slipped down my face and was around my neck, half unraveled. I felt so exposed with out it and quickly pulled the red cloth from around my neck and proceeded to try to fix it again.

"Will you ever get better? Why are you wearing that? Men are 'posed to have short hair, Vince." I was overwhelmed by all the questions and comments. All I could do was stare at the child with a blank look on my face. Vinaya please come get your child…

"Priya!" I heard Vinaya yell from the kitchen. "Stop bothering Vincent. If you want to do something I'll call Tifa and have her bring over Marlene and Denzel."

"Yay!" Priya hopped off my lap and I sighed with relief. Children….

I finally got my bandana fixed.

◊ **Vinaya's POV ◊**

I ran to the door at the sound of the doorbell ringing and let Tifa, Marlene, and Denzel and surprisingly Cloud in. Well I shouldn't have been surprised Cloud must want to speak with Vincent about his battle with Deepground. After a quick dinner, Vincent and Cloud stepped outside on the porch while Tifa and went to my bedroom. The kids were huddled around the living room TV ready to start Marlene's favorite movie. Poor Denzel, we need another boy for him to play with.

"So…has anything changed?" Tifa asked lying down on my bed. I laid down beside her, both of us now on our backs facing the ceiling.

"Mm…not really. Things have gotten a little bit awkward in my opinion. I mean, at first before I started liking Vincent, it was so easy for me to talk to him. I wasn't shy at all or anything, but lately it's been kind of hard for me." I better be able to trust Tifa.

"Yeah, it's kinda like how my situation is. You know Cloud and I have been friends since I can remember, but when I started having feelings for him, it just became hard to even look at him. My knees would even get weak and…"

"Yeah!" I interrupted. "It's like that for me too! Especially with that intense stare of his."

"I wonder what they think or if they ever get weak when we come around."

"I don't think anything can weaken Vincent Valentine, Tifa." I turned and looked at her. We both laughed. "Phoebe maybe." I added. That sent us into another wave of even harder laughter.

"I don't know… Vinaya I really hope you are the one who can bring him out of his depression over Lucrecia. In my mind and from what I've heard, she really isn't worth all this. If she really loved Vincent she wouldn't have let Hojo shoot him and then put _Chaos_ genes in him to revive him! I mean what kind of life did she think Vincent was going to have!? And then didn't even have the decency _knowing_ how much Vincent loved her to stay alive for him!" I heard the anger rise in her voice. Hearing this also angered me a little bit, but I didn't show it. I only sighed.

"Tifa, what about his aging? I'm going to grow old one day and…."

"If everybody said that then Vincent would never have _anybody_." Tifa said cutting me off. What she said was true. I sighed again.

"Well, I'm not jumping into anything anytime soon. It's still not like Vincent and I know each other _that_ well. Of course it's been a little over a month since we've met, but it's not like he talks to me that often around the house and our phone calls while he was fighting Deepground were usually meaningless small talk, or about silly stuff. Did you know his favorite food was extra cheese pizza? I would have never guessed."

Tifa laughed out loud. "Well Cloud's is chocolate covered strawberries. Would you have guessed that?"

I laughed even louder. I then heard footsteps coming down the hall. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a tall figure standing in my doorway. Vincent limped into my room holding his chest. I flew up off the bed and took his hand in mine. Cloud then appeared in the doorway. He watched as I helped Vincent calm down. I wanted to pull Cloud aside right at that moment and ask him what he and Vincent had been talking about _besides _Deepground.

"So…" Vincent started when he was back in control of his body. "Cloud as you were saying…" Vincent turned back to Cloud who was already on his way back out of my room. Tifa and I rushed to the door and tipped toed down the hallway once they had entered the living room.

"Oh yeah.." Cloud said in a voice just above a whisper. "I was told to ask how you liked living here with Vinaya."

I didn't hear any response from Vincent which sort of disappointed me, but I couldn't exactly expect Vincent Valentine to jump up and yell "Well its great here!" After a few minutes I finally heard a response.

"Who wants to know?" Vincent asked in a normal monotone voice.

"I was told to keep that identity a secret."

"Hmm..well then I suppose my answer will also be kept a secret. And as for your previous question, if I should ever require any assistance in my battle with Deepground, you will be the first I call, Cloud. At the moment I am waiting for a response from Reeve as to where I will strike next. It seems Deepground has been forced into hiding."

Cloud chuckled. "They underestimated you."

"Hmm."

Tifa and I backed up the hallway and went back into my room.

"Ugh how boring! But what else could I have expected out of a conversation with Cloud and Vincent." Tifa said with disgust written all over her face.

◊ **Vincent's POV ◊**

I watched Cloud's blue eyes search around the room before he started his next question. "Vincent, do you think there is a possibility that you and Vinaya will ever…"

"Cloud." I stopped him. "Ask yourself this. Do you think someone that wonderful could ever love something as utterly grotesque as me?"

Cloud looked down. "It seems she does." It was obvious that this subject was embarrassing for him to talk about.

"What on the planet would give you that idea?" Cloud knows something; I can read it in his expressive eyes. A quality I'm glad I lack, I do not wish to have my feelings and thoughts read so easily.

"I can't really say, but…Hey TIFA! Let's go! I've got some deliveries to make! …it's just a hunch." Cloud stood up without taking another look at me. Tifa came running down the hallway Marlene and Denzel in tow. Vinaya slowly walked into the living room waving bye to Tifa. Priya was last to enter the living room.

"Bye Marlene Bye Denzel!" she called out waving wildly. The children waved goodbye to her as well. Once the visitors were all gone and Priya returned to her room. I was left there alone in the room with _her._ She took one look at me before retreating back down the hallway.

"Priya, get your pajamas and go take a shower its getting late." I heard her say, then there she was again progressing towards me.

"Vincent, after you shower I'll bandage your wound up for you again, ok?" I looked over at her and nodded. If she keeps smiling at me like that I am going to lose all control of my mind, body, chaos, and all the other demons I hold.

◊ **Vinaya's POV ◊**

As I promised after Vincent took a shower and changed into his dark blue striped pajamas and white T-shirt, I followed him to his bedroom and got out all my first aid stuff. Vincent sat against the head board of his bed while I sat towards the middle with his leg across my lap. "Ready?" I asked before I dabbed the burning medicine on it. He nodded and squeezed his eyes shut. He didn't flinch or make a sound this time as I applied the medicine to the long deep gash. I wrapped it up again and just as I was one second away from finishing Phoebe jumped up on the bed surprising us both.

"Stop that Phoebs, Vincent doesn't like you." I shoved her off the bed and she let out a low growl as she strutted out of his room with her tail sticking straight up in the air. Vincent stretched his neck out trying to see out of the doorway to make sure she was gone. His eyes then rested on mine, he yawned quietly and continued to stare at me.

His cell phone rang. It was sitting on the end table by his bed. He sighed and snatched it up. "Sorry." He muttered.

"This is Vincent." He said in a tired voice.

I got up and slowly made my way off of his bed and out of his room. I walked down the hall and into the kitchen to get myself a glass of water before I went to bed. I then noticed the pile of dishes from dinner. As I began scrubbing each dish, my mind drifted off again. Once I finished the dishes I took one of the clean cups from the drain and turned to walk to the fridge. Instead of meeting with the fridge, I found myself face first into someone's chest. I gasped and dropped the plastic red cup on the floor. There goes that clean dish. I looked up to see Vincent's face no more than a couple of inches away from mine.

"….I was just…" he stopped trying to explain what his was doing and looked into my eyes. "I'm leaving again…day after tomorrow."

"Ok." Was all I could manage to say. Vincent's eyes traveled from my eyes to my lips then back to my eyes again. I swallowed hard and quickly turned away from him back to the drain for another cup. I grabbed one and walked around him to the fridge without even glancing at him. Why am I acting this way?

◊ **Vincent's POV ◊**

A hunch huh Cloud? I watched as Vinaya swiftly got her glass of water and was locked inside her bedroom within a matter of minutes. I sighed loudly and rubbed bandana. I've been here before, but I will _not_ let myself fall so deeply into an unrequited love again.


	10. Yuffie Kisaragi

**The Touch of Your Flesh **

**Yuffie Kisaragi **

I awoke abruptly at the feeling of someone's weight being slammed into mine.

"Vinny Valentine! It's almost noon!" I opened my eyes to meet those familiar dark brown, round eyes. I cringed as the bright light hit my eyes. Yuffie had jumped off me and snatched the curtain back. I groaned and rolled over away from the window.

"Didjya know you snore, Vinny?"

"Yes, Vinaya let me know." I mumbled my voice was also muffled by the pillow my face was pressed into.

"You been sleepin with her?" Yuffie walked around with a hand on her hip to the other side of the bed and leaned down so her face was inches away from mine.

I blinked and for a while couldn't believe what I had been accused of. "No."

"That's what I thought, Valentine. You better not mess with my friend, ok? She's had her heart broken before, so don't think she's gonna let someone in that easy. I mean I know you aint had any for what 30 some years, but that's no excuse. Wanna know a secret?"

I yawned and looked up at her trying not to look as annoyed as I felt.

"Guess you don't wanna know!" then without warning the young ninja jumped on the bed and continued jumping around barely missing my body with each jump. "I've gotta a secret and I'm not telling Vinny" she chanted as she jumped. About the fifth time she chanted I grabbed her legs in a tight grip and sent her face forward into the bed.

"Do I need Cerberus?" I glared down at her as she looked up at me completely shocked. Usually I would just sit and tolerate her, maybe pretend not to notice, but once one has disturbed my sleep which is not so easy to come by, I can no longer remain patient.

"Geez grouchy! I'm supposed to spend a few hours with you because the other Vinny's out shopping with Tifa. One of those hours has already passed by." Yuffie poked her bottom lip out and pouted at me. I wasn't the least bit amused. I then wondered.

"…the other…" I cringed inwardly as I repeated the horrid nickname. "…Vinny?"

"Vinaya! I call her Vinny too sometimes. I mean after a while no one really expected you to come around again…."

"So you just gave away my nickname? I'm hurt." My voice stayed within its monotone although I'm sure Yuffie recognized the slight sarcasm, as I threw my legs over the side of the bed. My injured leg was terribly sore this morning, but I hid it well and walked slowly without much of a limp, out my bedroom. Yuffie skipped into the kitchen behind me as I sat down at the table.

"You missed breakfast so I guess you'll just starve." Yuffie looked out the kitchen window then turned back to me. I shrugged.

"…not really hungry anyway." My stomach let out a low growl in protest. Damn…

"Vinny you liar! Since Vinaya is such a _nice_ person she wrapped up your place and put it in the stove so it'd stay warm!" she bent down and pulled the foil wrapped plate out of the oven and slammed it down in front of me.

"How could such a nice person be friends with you?" I gently unwrapped the plate dodged a fork that was thrown at me; it hit the floor clanking loudly.

"Well, I don't see is how such a nice person could even put up with living with you! You're always so moody and grouchy all the time. Never wanna talk to nobody." She placed a clean fork on the table next to me. I didn't bother thanking her. "Poor Vinaya. Her life must be miserable. You just made my day miserable!"

"Glad I could be of help." I received a death glare. Those stopped affecting me after…Well actually Yuffie's death glares have never affected me. I gave her a small smile instead that I was sure would change her mood.

"Vinny! Do you know how long it's been since I've seen you smile!? You look so much hotter when you do. Do you smile at Vinaya?" Such a nosey person Yuffie is. She sat in the chair across from me, although I don't know if you could call knees in the chair and body leaning clear across the table, sitting. She stared at me suspiciously again.

I shrugged my mouth was full of scrambled eggs. Yuffie didn't stop staring at me and scooted a little bit closer so her face was once again inches from mine.

"You like Vinaya, don't you Vinny? She's twice the woman Lucrecia could have thought about being and she'd never leave you." Her suspicious glare subsided and she slid back into the chair sitting normally. "I'm being serious Vincent."

Could someone check the temperature in hell? Yuffie is serious. Yuffie being serious was like me being funny. I didn't look at her and continued to eat breakfast.

"Vincent." She repeated. I looked up at her and indeed Yuffie Kisaragi was serious.

"What?" I continued eating until I was aware of the presence of that fowl Phoebe creature. I picked up my plate and carried it to the trash can that was across the room from it.

"Vincent Valentine don't walk away from me while I'm trying to have a serious conversation with you." Yuffie turned in the chair so she was facing me.

"Could we have this serious conversation in the living room?" I didn't bother to wait for her reply but exited the room after placing the empty plate and fork in the sink. I sat on the couch and sighed loudly as Yuffie sat on the cushion right next to me.

"Do you like Vinaya?" she asked again. She grabbed my human wrist and gave it a squeeze. I sent her a look that plainly asked if she had lost her mind. She only raised her eyebrow and glared harder. I sighed loudly.

"….why do you ask?" I retaliated this was a now war. I'm not going to be tricked into telling my personal thoughts and feelings to this loud mouthed brat.

"Do _I_ need Cerberus?" Yuffie's glare didn't ease up any if anything it hardened and so did the grip on my wrist. I felt my fingers began to tingle from the lack of circulation.

"Please put me out of my misery." I immediately regretted this as it only resulted in a punch in the gut with her free hand.

"Yuffie let go of me! Now _I'm_ being serious!" I raised my voice slightly hoping to scare her, but she didn't let go and only brought her face closer to mine.

"Vincent Valentine if you don't give me the information I came here for I will make your life more of a living hell than it already is! Comprende?!" she then stomped on my foot with her small one. It didn't cause me a bit of pain and almost made me want to laugh in her face.

"Will you leave me alone?" I looked into her very serious eyes.

"I promise." She said loosening the grip on my arm and taking her foot off mine.

"Your friend's nice, I like her." I shrugged. Yuffie got in my face again.

"_Like _her like her or just like her cause she's nice." I shrugged again but once again regretted my action as Yuffie threw her hands up and started screaming.

"VINCENT VALENTINE!!!!!!!!!!!! DAMNIT!!" her piercing screams afterwards was enough to make me want to crawl back into my coffin and sleep for another 30 years.

"Yuffie…Yuffie!" I repeated louder. She stopped screaming and wrapped both her hands around my neck. "Ok, ok…you win Yuffie. Yes I _like_ Vinaya." Did I really just admit that to the loudest mouth on the entire planet? At this point I didn't really care I was done trying to tolerate Yuffie. If that would shut her up then so be it.

"Awww Vinny!" she let go of my neck and began cuddling my arm. I sighed loudly and gave her the usual annoyed look. "When you gonna tell her? Have you kissed her?"

"No Yuffie. And I'm not going to tell her. I…" I stopped myself before I exposed anymore of my feelings. This was enough.

**◊ Vinaya's POV ◊ **

My feet were killing me from walking around all the stores, but man did I ever get some shopping done. Today I wore a long white skirt and a lime green tank top, I left my hair down again, but it didn't have much curl to it. I bought tons of clothes for myself and even a few more things for Vincent including a black headband and a dark blue one to go with the new dark blue buttoned down, short sleeved shirt. I even bought him some really awesome sunglasses. Shopping like that almost made me feel like he belonged to me, and I liked it. I stuck the keys into my door and walked into my living room to witness a scared Yuffie on the couch with her arms wrapped around her legs and her knees under her chin with a very angry looking Vincent holding a gun pointed at her.

"What's going on?!" I asked dropping all my bags. Tifa and I had separated as we left the store so I returned alone. Vincent lowered the gun and looked at me like a deer in headlights.

"I.." he started.

"Vincent please….I hate guns they scare me." I turned away from him not even able to look at the gun.

"I'm sorry." He finished holding the gun behind his back. I then caught him sending a terrifying glare at Yuffie. She hopped off the couch and ran out the door.

"Bye Vinaya! Tell Priya I said hi!" with that she was gone. She owned a flight car of her own which she had gotten a license for over the past month.

"Umm…" I had no clue what to say. I wanted to ask what in the _hell_ had been going on in my house, but didn't have the nerve.

Vincent scratched his head and also seemed clueless as to what to say next. Then I saw his expression soften as he started. "Please tell me what I did wrong to deserve a sentence of two hours with Yuffie Kisaragi."

I laughed out loud. "Oh Vincent." I continued to laugh unable to stop myself. He stared at me with a very tiny smile on his face. "You did nothing wrong…she just called this morning and asked how you were and I asked her if she wanted to come visit you while I went out with Tifa…and…"

"Please don't ever allow her to stay more than thirty minutes again. It's not good for my sanity. Excuse me, and I'll put this away." I nodded and smiled at him then took my bags to my bedroom. After I put all my new things into my closet, I carried Vincent's stuff to his room. He was sitting on his bed using his cloak that I washed for him to polish his gun. When he saw me coming he quickly placed his gun behind him and looked up at me.

"I bought you these today." I said holding the sunglasses out to him.

"Tha…"

"And this." I tossed the dark blue shirt on his bed. I also tossed a package of new boxers on the bed. He smirked upon seeing that I bought underwear for him.

"Thank you, Vinaya. You must stop being so kind. As…there is nothing I can do for you." He put his head down and I noticed his voice seemed a little saddened.

"Vincent, don't think that way, ok? I enjoy being nice to you it makes me feel good about myself so just deal with it." I grinned at him and the corner of his lips turned up slightly. "What time are you leaving tomorrow?"

"Whenever Reeve calls again. Do you not need to pick up Priya today?" Vincent asked me looking at his alarm clock that read 3:45 P.M. I smiled and appreciated his assumed concern for my daughter.

"She asked to ride home with a friend today. I needed a little break from her, I don't know about you." My heart started racing again. This has got to stop! Tifa was right; my knees have even become weak. I sat next to Vincent on his bed.

"Ah…new bandanas." He said holding one up.

"Vincent I've never seen you without one." I pushed all the nerves away and gave him a seductive smile. He pursed his lips as if he were holding back a smile. "Can I?" I reached up and touched his red one.

"If you wish." He voice was much lower and kinda had a seductive hint to it as well. I smiled and pulled off his bandana. His bangs fell forward covering his eyes and I now saw the whole purpose of the bandanas. I pushed them back with my hand and ran my fingers through his hair a couple of times barely aware of what I was doing. But it did allow his bangs to stay back freely without any help. My heart pounded even harder when I finally allowed my eyes to rest on his face, his _whole_ face. I blinked a couple of times and looked away.

I then laughed as the thought of Vincent and Yuffie earlier returned to my mind. "What did Yuffie do to make you want to shoot her?"

"What doesn't Yuffie do that would make one want to shoot her?" He quickly replied I noticed he had an even bigger smile resting on his lips now. If he doesn't stop I'll end up doing something I don't want to in here. My own smile widened as my laughter faded.

"Vincent, you be careful while you're gone ok?" I looked up at him and tossed my own bangs back.

"Ok." He replied, his small smile faded into a blank look and he stood to go sit by the window. He sighed and put his face in his hands, his bangs fell out of the position I put them in and rested over his hands.

"Vincent?" I laid back on his bed and turned my head to look at him.

"Hmm?" He didn't lift his face from his hands or move at all for that matter.

"I'll be really sad if you die out there. And so will Priya. You don't wanna make us sad, right?"

He shook his head no. He then lifted his face from his hands and looked out the window. He had a troubled look on his face that made me wonder about him, but I chose not to ask him any questions. Maybe he just didn't want to go. Maybe Vincent Valentine actually likes staying here.

"Here comes your friend." I smiled at him and watched him turn and look at Phoebe who strutted into the room and rubbed her head on the chair he was sitting in. He glared hard at her. "Shoo creature." I heard him mutter.

She meowed up at him and jumped right in his lap. The expression on Vincent's face was priceless. There was more emotion in that look than I had _ever_ seen on his face.

"Phoebs, come here. Here kitty kitty." I called her; she hopped out of his lap and onto the bed with me. I stroked her softly and she started purring. "See Vincent, she's harmless."

"_Harmless_…" he muttered looking back out of the window with a more troubled look than he had before.


	11. Gone Away Again

**The Touch of Your Flesh **

**Gone Away Again **

"Hey…Vinaya. Vinaya." I heard a soft deep voice next to me. I moaned and opened my eyes squinting under the light from the lamp next to my bed. As my vision cleared I saw Vincent kneeling next to my bed wearing the black short sleeved buttoned down shirt that I bought him and his own black pants he came here with. And of course he wasn't leaving without that infamous cloak. I looked at my alarm clock to find it was only 4:45 A.M.

"I'm leaving." His eyes roamed around my face as I stared at him waiting for the words to register in my brain.

"Ok. Be careful Vincent. I'll be calling you as usual so please answer." The sound of my voice was so hoarse and scratchy it hurt my own ears. He nodded and stood from his kneeling position.

"Oh and use the flight car. Don't hurt yourself trying to save it this time." I smiled up at him. His crimson eyes seemed to glow under the dim light of only the lamp.

He nodded once more before turning to leave.

"Goodbye Vincent." I called after him, my voice finally coming out normally. He stopped in the doorway and turned to me.

"Bye. Please try not to worry yourself for me. I will be fine, I promise."

"Thought you stopped making promises." I said in a teasing voice. I grinned and watched him put his head down for a moment only to raise it and look me in the eye with the most intense glare.

"I will _not_ be defeated by anyone that has a single thing to do with Hojo. I will _not_ _**ever**_ allow him to see me in such a weak pathetic state….again." The friction in his voice shook me a little, but I knew his rage wasn't directed at me so I was ok. I smiled at him again before he turned and shut my bedroom door behind him. I turned off my lamp and went back to sleep.

**◊ Vincent's POV ◊ **

It was the first promise since I last promised….her. Lucrecia….I haven't forgotten you. I tried to erase those depressing thoughts as I quickly hopped on the flight car and reversed out of the garage. I flipped open my phone and called Reeve.

"Where am I headed?" I started as I eased out of the driveway and onto the road. I'm not usually this careful of a driver, but I do not wish to harm her vehicle. Reeve let me know that he had found the headquarters of the Deepground organization and informed me that I should not enter alone so members of the WRO will be there to assist me on this mission. Am I even needed at all? I wondered. I tried to follow his vague directions and finally reached the destination.

**◊ Vinaya's POV ◊ **

I woke up at nine and did the usual routine with Priya. For some odd reason she was terribly moody today and threw a fit about going to school. This continued over the next couple of days until it was finally the weekend. Saturday, during the day I sent Priya off to play with Marlene because she was lonely. Denzel seemed to have found a boy his age to play with and was gone with him. I sat alone in my bedroom in a pair of grey shorts and a T-shirt contemplating whether or not to call Vincent. I tossed my gently from hand to hand until I just decided to call him.

It rang a good four or five times before he finally answered with a. "….Valentine."

"Well hello there Mr. Valentine." I said in a flirty voice even though my heart was racing at the sound of his alluring deep voice.

"Vi…Vinaya?" he said my name like he was shocked to be hearing from me. Did I not say I was going to call him?

"Of course it's me. What are you doing? Where are you?" I laid back on my bed picked up the pen and tablet that was laying there from when I was making a list of songs I wanted on a CD. I began drawing little hearts and stars all over the paper.

"I'm inside a closet, hiding." He replied I noticed there wasn't a single sound in the background.

"Why? What's going on?" I began shading in the hearts I was drawing.

"A big man named Azul is looking for me. It may be too dangerous to fight him head on right now as I am…out of ammunition." I heard him let out a disappointed sigh.

"What are you going to do?!" I threw the pen down and sat upright. "Vincent I'll buy you some and bring it to you. Are you far?!"

For the first time I heard a very soft, very short chuckle on the other end. "I'm fine, Vinaya. I'm not here alone. An organization called WRO is here, I've already contacted one of the captains and he will be here shortly with ammunition."

"Did you just laugh at me Vincent?" I asked in an accusing tone. I even put my hand on my hip although he couldn't see it.

"I may have. It seems you do not trust the promise I made to you." Damn that monotone. It almost sucks the meaning out of anything he says. I didn't even know how to respond to that so for the fear of saying something stupid, I stayed silent. I heard noise in the background then a man talking.

"Ammunition sir!" the gruff male voice said. I then heard Vincent clear his throat.

"I have to go now. After I win this fight, I will be the one to call you." He didn't even let me say goodbye before he hung up the phone. I sighed and sat my cell phone aside. I decided now would be a good time to do the dishes and clean up the house a little.

**◊ Vincent's POV ◊ **

"So you're Vincent Valentine. _You_ are what I am supposed to beware of?" Azul said as he progressed towards me with heavy footsteps. He let out a bellow of a laugh and lifted his huge gun. "I was hoping for some competition."

I quickly held up my gun and aimed right between his eyes. He quickly turned his gun and blocked the bullet. Ah…so this will be worthy competition after all. He laughed loudly again. I instantly became annoyed with his cocky laugh. I fired a few more times, he successfully blocked two of them, but the third hit him in his large bare arm. The blood tricked down his arm and dripped on the steel floor. With his injured arm he smashed his fist down on the floor with such force I flew backwards into a cargo box. I then rolled away dodging the shots he fired at me. I rolled until I was out of his view.

"Come out come out wherever you are Mr. _Valentine_ ha!" I frowned deeply but didn't say a word. I then jumped up on the boxes and fired. The bullet hit him in the chest. He dropped his gun and fell to his knees. I jumped down from the boxes and landed gracefully in front of this pathetic man. I held Cerberus to his temple.

"Let this be a lesson to you. Do not ever underestimate me. If you live I suggest you warn whoever your leader is." I put Cerberus back in its carrier and walked away. As soon as I was out of the building I felt the pain hit my chest. I fell to the ground and the transformation started, but to my surprise I was still in control. I glanced down at Vinaya's bracelet on the demon's arm. The control didn't last long because the next thing I knew I woke up in a pile of debris. I stood and looked around at all the destruction Chaos…I had done. WRO soldiers as well as Deepground soldiers were lying around decapitated. I cringed as I saw the dead body of the captain that had just previously giving me ammunition. _This_ is why I refused to come around my friends for so long. _These_ bodies could have been theirs.

**◊Vinaya's POV ◊ **

"Mommy what's wrong?" Priya jumped on the couch next to me and looked up at me with her eyes. I looked at her face and thanked God she didn't look a bit like her father. Her long black hair was straight down with her bangs over her forehead. She was already dressed in her hot pink Barbie nightgown.

"Nothing…sweetie. I'm just waiting for Vincent to call." I sighed and looked down at my pink and white cell phone. He _said_ he'd call. What if he's dead!? No...he wouldn't break his promise.

"Where is he? Why does he leave so much? If he is sick he should stay home." Priya laid across my lap and looked at the TV. It seems like the TV is always playing cartoons. I had even caught Vincent sitting here totally absorbed in a cartoon.

"Priya Vincent, he….his illness is that he has something living inside him. And he can't control it, but something inside us can help him control it." I explained. I didn't want to tell her there was a demon inside him. She'd probably go back to being scared of him.

"Is he going to live with us forever?" she asked as I stroked her hair. Phoebe came around the corner and meowed up at both of us. She had been roaming around the house ever since Vincent left. It gave me the feeling that she just liked torturing him with her presence.

"I don't know, Priya."

"Who's Lucrecia?" I stopped stroking her hair and looked down at her.

"How do you know about her?"

"Vincent said her name while he was sleeping." I thought back to the day he was sleeping on the couch and Priya wouldn't stop spying on him. I sighed and didn't answer her. So he did still think of her….

My cell phone finally rang and I answered it before the first few words of the song had even played.

"Hello Vincent?"

"…yeah it's me. I would have called sooner, but Chaos took over and…."

"The bracelet didn't help?" Priya got off my lap and looked up at me. "I wanna talk to Vincent!"

"It worked for a while…but I still lost control." I heard the soft hum of my flight car in the background. Doesn't he know it's dangerous to drive and talk on the phone at the same time?!

"Mommy let me talk to Vincent!" Priya demanded reaching out for the phone.

"Vincent, Priya wants to talk to you." I sighed and handed the phone to her.

"Hi." She said before giggling.

"Fine." She replied. "Are you coming back?" I wanted to laugh at how mature Priya looked sitting there on my cell phone. Her fifth birthday and my twenty-second were coming up pretty soon. My birthday came just two weeks before hers.

"Ok. You wanna talk to Mommy?" She held the phone back out to me again and I took it and left the room.

"She's so goofy." I said laughing as I walked into the kitchen.

"Hm…So it seems that I truly am missed there." I opened the fridge and pulled out some leftovers from the other night.

"Well yeah. Even Phoebe has been walking around looking for you." I laughed.

"Hmph. I do not find it funny." I then heard him say to someone else in the background. "Thank you."

"What are you doing?" I asked as I put some turkey, green beans and corn on a two plates and put one of them in the microwave.

"I just found a place to stay for the night."

"Oh, you must be exhausted huh?" I leaned up against my black and white counters as I waited for the microwave to beep.

"Not exhausted, but I could use some rest. I must now search for the protomateria before it ends up in Hojo, or Weiss' hands." I heard him open and shut a door.

"Oh…well Vincent you know what I'm about to say right?" I smiled and waiting for him to guess.

"Be careful ok?"He said and I laughed quietly.

"That's right." The microwave finally beeped and I put the second plate in. "Priya come eat, sweetie."

"Well Vincent I guess I'll let you go." I sighed and looked down at white tiles on the floor.

"Ok. Goodbye Vinaya." We then hung up and I sat my phone on the counter. I never realized how empty this house felt with just me, Priya and Phoebe here.


	12. By Your Side

**The Touch Of Your Flesh**

**By Your Side**

Weeks went by and I kept scarce contact with Vincent. He reassured me each time that he would be fine. I prayed each day he'd find what he was looking for and hurry back to us. Just as it seemed Vincent and I were drifting apart, Tifa and Cloud were getting closer. It seemed that Cloud really did feel the same way for Tifa. Man did he have a strange way of showing it. However, Tifa did let me know all the details of how they "did it" for the first time.

It was Sunday and Priya and I were left sitting around the house. I don't have to work because my family left behind plenty of money. My father owned a successful business in Junon, so he was away most of the time. I think this is the only reason why my mother tolerated him was because of the money and the time she got away from him. Instead of being happy when he finally came home, everyone was scared. My father was an evil man, who never appreciated anything we tried to do for him. The house was never clean enough; my grades were never good enough. He demanded many times that we put Vimala to death because of her demon, but I protected her. He never touched us children, but he hit our mother constantly. She was nothing more than a perfect wife, but not good enough for him. As I was not _good _enough for Priya's father.

"Woo hoo yee hoo!" Priya skipped around and sang out loudly. My head was throbbing and I felt sick to my stomach and her high pitch voice was pushing me over the edge.

"Priya…sweet heart, honey cakes…Please stop. Mommy doesn't feel well." Priya finally stopped skipping and sat down on the floor.

"I'm bored!" she whined. I sighed and stood up, the room felt like it was spinning and it got so bad I had to sit down again. The nausea increased and I did all I could to hold it down while I grabbed my cell phone.

It rang and rang and rang and Tifa wouldn't answer. My next try was Barrett, but again no answer. I almost began to panic when I became short of break and broke out into a cold sweat. I dialed Yuffie's number and handed the phone to Priya who was oblivious to my current state.

"Tell Yuffie mommy's sick and to please come here." That was the last thing I could remember before everything went black.

◊ **Vincent's POV ◊ **

As I flew carefully over the wastelands my cell phone rang out of the blue. Vinaya hadn't called in several days and I was actually quite anxious to hear from her.

"….this is Vincent."

"Vincent!! This is Yuffie." I had to hold the phone away from my ear her voice was so loud. I sighed loudly.

"I don't have time for…."

"Vinaya's sick! She's in the hospital and she won't wake up. She's been unconscious for almost 3 hours!" I then noticed the crying in the background.

"Can you get a hold of Cloud or Tifa?" I asked. What could I do? I'm nearly five hours away.

"I tried! They've hooked up recently and I think they went out of town together. Barrett took Marlene and Denzel and went out of town too. And no one knows where Cid is. Vincent I'm scared! Priya won't stop crying and I just don't know what to do! The doctors say this is not good." Yuffie began sobbing loudly and I sighed. One thing I hated hearing or most definitely seeing is a female crying.

"Well Yuffie….I'll get there as soon as I can, but it will be five hours or more. I'll try to hurry."

"Please hurry." She sobbed in a weak voice. I hung up my cell phone and pushed that flight car to full speed. I swooped low and high just barely missing trees and monsters.

◊ **Vinaya's POV ◊**

All of a sudden the throbbing pain was back in my head and the wave of nausea came back over me. I squeezed my eyes closed tighter. I felt something squeeze my hand and the faint sound of a low voice calling my name. I finally opened my eyes and they instantly locked on to those familiar crimson ones filled with concern.

"Vinaya." He repeated squeezing my hand very gently again.

"Vincent." I murmured quietly. "Why are you here?" The sound of my own voice hurt my head so badly I winced.

"Shh…just rest. But I want you to know I'm here. Yuffie took Priya back home and is going to stay with her until you can return. Everything's all right so just rest." I nodded and closed my eyes again almost instantly falling asleep.

When I awoke again I notice Vincent had pulled a chair up next to the bed and was asleep with his head in his arms on the bed next to me. He still had a hold of my hand. I looked up at the clock across from me on the wall and realized it was three o'clock in the morning. The last thing I can remember clearly was sitting at my house with Priya around noon. My head didn't hurt as badly, but the IV in my arm sure did. I did everything I could not to snatch that thing out. I focused on Vincent instead. Wow…he had honestly come all the way back here to be with me. Could he possibly…no he probably feels obligated to. He feels as if he owes me so much this is probably his way of returning the favor. I sighed as I looked at his peaceful form. His back slightly rising and falling with each heavy breath. As soon as I moved my hand out from under his to reach out to him he instantly stirred and lifted his head from his arms.

I beamed at him and took his hand back in mine. He yawned quietly and wiped his tired eyes before asking.

"Do you feel better? What happened?"

"I don't know what came over me. My head feels a little better, but my body still aches and if I so much as turn my head too quick I feel like puking." I suddenly became aware that I was laying here probably looking like death, no make up, hair messy in front of Vincent Valentine. He gave me a very tiny smile and leaned on the bed again, but this time resting his head on his fist facing me. He didn't say anything but only stared at me. Did I mention I looked like death? I shied away from his stare and looked up at the blank TV.

"I should call Yuffie and tell her you're all right now. She believed you were dying. And I'm afraid I may have caused a bit of damage to your flight car trying to get here as fast as I could." He leaned back away from the bed in the chair he was sitting in and pulled out his phone.

"Yuffie…she's ok now."

"Yes, I will stay with her until she is released."

"Ok. Well…then I may go to the house for a quick shower and a change of clothes, but I will return." He sent another small smile my way before ending the conversation.

"Ok Goodbye Yuffie." He put his phone away in his pocket and stood from the chair. "Yuffie is on her way here with Priya."

"Uh…Vincent…um…could you call Yuffie back really fast and ask her to please….uh…Well just let me talk to her." He quickly retrieved his phone again and handed it to me. I found his contacts and called Yuffie's cell.

"This is Vinaya…uh…" I lowered my voice down to a whisper. "Could you bring me a bra and a new pair of panties? I have no idea what they did with the ones I had on." Out of the corner of my eye I saw Vincent smirk and turn his face away from me. I wonder what he would have done if I had ask him to do it.

"Thanks Yuffie." I hung up and handed the phone back to Vincent not able to look him in the eye. He took it, his fingers lightly brushing mine.

"I'll wait here with you until she gets here." He continued to stand by the bed turned away from me. I sighed.

"I'll be ok, go a head, you must be dying to have a shower and how long have you been wearing those clothes? Go Vincent, I'll be fine. I only live about six minutes from here anyway." He turned and looked down at me. He sighed heavily.

"Ok. I'll be right back." I watched the back of Vincent as he walked out of my room. That man has such a presence. He left my room with that empty feeling like he had in my house. I sighed and turned on the TV with the remote that was on the side of the bed. I hadn't even realized that was the remote. Ten minutes later just as I was actually getting into the talk show I heard my daughter's voice.

"Mommy!" she ran into the room and jumped up on the bed with me.

"Careful!" Yuffie ran up to the bed also. "You ok? I freaking out!" She tossed my bra and panties up on the bed with me and I put them under the pillow I would wait until I felt like I could walk to the bathroom before I put them on.

I nodded and stroked my daughter's hair as she snuggled up next to me on the bed. I looked back at the clock again; it was almost four in the morning Priya shouldn't really miss many days of school as the school year was coming to an end.

"Mommy's all right sweetie. You should really get some sleep so you can go to school."

"I don't wanna go to school!!" she practically screamed. I cringed we were in a _hospital_ after all I'm sure there were patients across the hall that valued their precious sleep. Yuffie just stood there wide eyed.

After a few minutes of total silence Yuffie fidgeted and tried to hide a smile. "Vincent sure flew here didn't he? Hmmm….must've really been worried about someone." She put her finger to her lip and pretended to be in deep thought.

"He probably felt obligated to. I mean he's been telling me how bad he feels cause he can't do anything for me in return for my kindness towards him." I shrugged continuing to stroke Priya's head. Even the slight movement of my arm was making me dizzy. I stopped briefly and started again.

"Hmmmm I dunno…." She giggled and put her hand back down by her side and sat in the chair Vincent had pushed up to the bed.

I smirked; if I laughed right now I'd lose some stomach acid. I hadn't eaten since before I passed out and even then it was a very small something. Yuffie continued to look at me with that hint in her eyes that she knew something. I rolled my eyes very slowly shook my head.

"When Vincent comes back could you take Priya back home and make sure she gets to school. Even if you have to drag her kicking and screaming."

"Sure. Because I guess you two want to be _alone_." Yuffie gave me a naughty look and I replied with a glare that was quickly replaced with a soft laughed. I stopped as soon as I saw Vincent in the doorway again. Man he is fast. He wore a pair of black dress pants and a white buttoned down shirt and the new black bandana that I bought for him. I'm going to have a heart attack one of those days if he keeps making my heart rate increase like this. Priya had fallen asleep on the bed next to me. I shook her lightly. She moaned and groaned but eventually awoke.

"Go with Yuffie, she's gonna take you home and put you to bed. In a few hours you wake up and go to school, ok? I mean it." She wined and scooted off the bed.

"I don't wanna…" her bottom lip then began to quiver and the tears came. I was used to this but obviously Yuffie and Vincent weren't. They both looked down at her with sympathetic glances.

"Priya enough." She frowned up at me and stormed out of the room Yuffie jogged behind her after waving goodbye to me and giving me a thumbs up signal behind Vincent's back.

Vincent took his seat in the chair and took my hand again. "Just incase." He muttered. "You know, I massacred nearly a hundred soldiers at Deep ground's headquarters." His crimson eyes lifted from my hand to meet my eyes. His face looked so pale and the darkness under his eyes made _me_ feel tired.

"That's not good." My thumb gently ran over the smooth skin on the back of his pale hand. His fingers twitched under the sudden movement. "Vincent you should get some rest too. If you want to go back to napping I'll be quiet." He shook his head no. He stared down at our hands and remained silent for the longest time. The dazed look in his eyes told me his mind was else where.

"Vincent…did you feel obligated to come here?" His eyes instantly focused on mine again. He tilted his head to the side as if thinking then shook his head no.

"It was instinctive." He rested his clawed arm on the bed and sighed. He didn't say anything more and went off into his detached world again.

"Thank you." My voice cracked but tears were no where near. His head shot up and he stared me in my eyes intensely. When he saw that I wasn't crying, his eyes softened and he rested his head in his arms again, but turned so I could still see his face. Although he said he didn't want to go back to napping, his eyes slowly closed and within ten minutes he was snoring quietly.


	13. Dr Valentine

**The Touch Of Your Flesh**

**Dr. Valentine**

A week later I was released from the hospital. Vincent stayed by me throughout that week only taking short breaks to go back to the house and change clothes. Yuffie stayed at my house for the week taking care of Priya. They spent a lot of time at the hospital with me as well, although I was still sensing high tension between Yuffie and Vincent as I constantly caught them shooting glares back and forth when they didn't think I was looking.

Being released from the hospital didn't mean I was totally better, the doctors recommended that I stay bedridden for the next couple of weeks, and _Dr._ Valentine was making damn sure of it.

Cloud and Tifa were back from their trip and had come over to help Vincent out. The house was a wreck, Priya was being the worst brat ever, and Phoebe was going crazy because her litter box was dirty. Cloud was out dumping the litter box, while Tifa started on the piles of dishes, and Vincent was making soup for me. I lay on the couch wrapped up in my red comforter from my bed watching a romantic tragedy on TV, my body still ached, but I was no where near as dizzy and didn't feel nauseous, not until I saw the soup that Vincent made me as he sat a tray near the couch. I tried not to gag as the awful smell hit my nostrils; it was a brownish yellow color with brown things floating in it.

I tried not to make a face as I slowly sat up and grabbed the spoon Vincent had placed on the tray for me. He watched me closely and I looked up at him. He wore a very small smirk on his face. Although it was noon, and we had company, Vincent still stood there in black pajama pants and a black T-shirt. He wore his bandana, but his hair was pulled back into a low ponytail.

"It tastes better than it looks, mind you." He crossed his arms across his chest and waited for me to take the first taste. I took the spoon with a shaky hand and dipped it into the brown substance. I took a deep breath and sucked the brown liquid off the spoon expecting the worse. My eyes widened.

"Mmm…this is really good, Vincent!"

His lips curled into a triumphant smile and he even cocked his head back a little bit. I laughed at him and continued eating the soup he made for me. He returned to the kitchen and I tried to listen to the conversation he was having with Tifa.

◊ **Vincent's POV ◊**

I picked up a wet plate from the drain as I saw it was becoming full. Tifa continued to scrub away at a pot. I grabbed a bright red towel that was hanging on the handle of the stove and began drying the dishes and putting them back in the cabinets above.

"So…Vincent, I'm really happy to hear that you took such good care of our friend Vinaya. She's really special to us. She allowed us to see you again." She sent me a genuine smile. I flashed her a thin smile and she laughed softly.

"Do you guys…talk much?" she looked up and out the window at Cloud who was now mowing the lawn.

"I suppose….we talk….a bit…" I was confused by her question. Of course I am not a very social person, but I like to be civil.

"Did she ever tell you about her past?" Tifa started carefully searching the bottom of the sink for silverware.

"Yes…she has. However I have not shared mine with her. Maybe a few small details." I now knew where this conversation was going. Tifa had probably spoken with Yuffie who had mostly likely opened that mouth of hers. I sighed and sat down the towel. I moved closer to Tifa and whispered to her.

"I know you've spoken with Yuffie. I suggest both of you keep that information hidden." I pulled away and continued drying the dishes sending a sideways glance at her.

"Why?" she said awfully loudly. Are we or are we not a room away from Vinaya? Then much to my relief she turned her voice down to a whisper. "She feels the same."

"It's not about feelings at this point, Tifa. I am a monster, inhumane, immortal, grotesque monster. I also owe my whole life to another woman." I whispered harshly. My words must have startled Tifa, but I didn't care, she was the one who brought me upon this subject. I was in a perfectly good mood a moment ago. I know what she is thinking, just because I've rushed back here and spent a week looking over Vinaya that I must be in love. I will not let myself fall in love again. Of course I am attracted to her, what man could not be? But I am not in love….

I assumed Tifa felt as if she upset me. She remained quiet and finished the last of the dishes leaving me in the kitchen alone to finish drying. Am I wrong for feeling this way? I do like Vinaya a great deal, she could soon become one of the people I let get the closest to me, but I absolutely cannot fall in love. Not only will it bring me the happiness I don't deserve, it will end in a pain that will be too intense for me to bear. I sighed and entered the living room once again. There she was laying on the couch eyes focused on the TV. Priya would soon be returning home from school I thought as I looked up at the clock.

◊ **Vinaya's POV ◊**

I opened my eyes and glanced up at the TV to see credits rolling. I evidently had dozed off during movie, or while I was trying to pick out words from Tifa and Vincent's top secret discussion in the kitchen, I heard whispers from them both, but couldn't distinguish much. Priya came through the front door and threw her tiny back pack down.

"I hate school!" she whined storming off to her room. The girl's only in preschool! I tried not to imagine what she would be like by the time she reached high school. Vincent slowly came into the living room again this time instead of greeting me with a soft expression he passed by me and sat in the chair that was diagonal from the couch and glared at the TV resting his elbow on the arm of the chair then resting his cheek against his human fist.

"Maybe you should join Priya in her room; she's brooding right now too." I said trying to lightening his sudden mood drop. He didn't even look at me but I heard a slight snort from him that I guess could have passed for a laugh.

After Cloud and Tifa help tidied up my house they left. I let them both know how much their help was greatly appreciated. Vincent didn't say a word to either of them as they left. He merely got up and locked the door after them. He then apprehensively approached Priya's door and knocked softly. I heard her open the door and Vincent asked her if she was hungry. Of course with the fact that Priya's always hungry she said yes and demanded we have spaghetti tonight. As Vincent came back from the hallway I stood from the couch.

"I can cook dinner Vincent." I tried to walk past him and enter the kitchen, but he very gently grabbed my wrist with his clawed hand. I jumped in surprise as the cold metal grazed my skin. Vincent normally didn't touch me with his left hand. He usually didn't touch me at all unless it was to hold my hand in the battle of controlling Chaos.

"I can't have that, please go lay down."

I sighed and opened my mouth to protest but Vincent held up his hand and turned his head as if to say he wasn't hearing it.

"Please." He repeated waving his claw in the direction of my couch. I sighed and returned to the couch. Since when did Vincent become so controlling? I wondered again what his conversation was like with Tifa. I made a mental note to call her later and find out. When Vincent was done making the spaghetti, he quietly called Priya to the kitchen and then came into the living room to place a plate on the tray next to the couch for me.

After dinner Vincent followed me to my bedroom and saw to it that I got into bed and was ok for the night. When he left I laid there for ten minutes before I decided to call Tifa. I dialed her number and she answered quickly.

"Hello?"

"Hey Tifa, this is Vinaya." I tried to keep my voice quiet.

"Hey, what's up? Is everything, ok?"

"Yeah, it's fine….uh I was just wondering what you and Vincent were talking about earlier." I turned my head sharply to the door when I thought I heard a creak from that direction.

"Why, is he still mad?" she asked.

"No, he doesn't seem angry."

"Oh, well I tried to ask him about you, but he went all into his whole sick story of how he owes his life to Lucrecia and he thinks he's a monster and undeserving of anybody's love. Something like that. He's going to be harder to crack than I thought, but I know you can do it Vinaya. He does like you, I can tell."

I sighed. Owes his life to Lucrecia!? What kind of shit is that? "What does he mean owes his life to Lucrecia?" I spoke that sentence louder that I wanted to.

"I think it means he doesn't want to be happy because he feels like he deserves to suffer his whole life to make up for not being able to save her. I personally think its sick." I heard her sigh, then I heard Cloud talking to the children in the background.

"Well, I'll let you go; I'm supposed to be sleeping now. Vincent is really crazy about me following the doctor's orders. It's going to drive me insane." We laughed, said goodbye and hung up. A few hours later I slowly got out of bed and walked to the door. I pressed my ear against it for a while before I slowly opened it. Vincent's bedroom door was cracked open which alarmed me a little, but nevertheless I tip toed down the hallway and into the kitchen. I'm sick, not on a diet! I need some junk food! I grabbed the chocolate syrup out of the fridge and put some ice cream in a bowl. As soon as I shut the refrigerator door, Vincent appeared in the doorway glaring at me. I smiled and stuck a spoon into the pile of ice cream.

"What?" I turned away from him and ate a first spoonful of ice cream. Vincent walked up behind me and his arm came around me taking the bowl of ice cream away. I turned to him with a pout that I'm sure resembled Priya.

"Should you really be eating food like this?" He picked up the spoon and dipped it into the ice cream. "And at this hour?" Wait a minute! Was Vincent Valentine playing around with me?!

"Vincent. Give it back." I threatened as I walked up to him and reached for the bowl. He held it high above my head. I reached for it standing on my tippy toes and when I could almost touch the bowl, I fell forward into him. He didn't even stumble backwards, but was like a brick wall that I could only bounce off of. I tried tickling his sides, but evidently he was not ticklish, he didn't even crack the smallest of smiles. "Please? I deserve some ice cream Vincent. I've been eating nasty hospital food and healthy food for a while!"

"Have you…" he raised his eyebrows slightly and lowered the bowl within my reach. I took it and frowned at him. I sat at the kitchen table and Vincent joined me. I had made a pretty big bowl, so I grabbed another spoon for him.

"Vincent, I over heard your conversation with Tifa….why do you feel like you owe your life to Lucrecia? Don't you think maybe if she loved you as much as you loved her, she'd wish happiness for you and not for you to suffer?" I noticed Vincent's mood drop dramatically and he sighed loudly.

"I…don't wish…to speak on that matter." It was hard taking him seriously now with chocolate in the corners of his lips. But when his crimson eyes met mine I knew he was serious.

"Vincent. You can speak to me on any matters." I put my spoon down and stared at him. I'm not going to let that intense stare affect me anymore.

"…..I….please can we not speak about it." A different look began to shine through his blood red eyes. One that I hadn't yet seen before. It was like they were begging me not to push him any further, so I didn't. It hurt my feelings, though that after all the time he's been staying here he still couldn't open up to me. I picked up the spoon again and after Vincent and I finished the ice cream in complete silence, we both returned to our bedrooms. While we were both still standing in our doorways I turned back to him.

"If you need to leave again to finish your battle with Deepground, I'll be fine. I'm feeling better already."

He nodded and before he could turn around I quickly walked up to him, licked my thumb and rubbed the chocolate out of the corners of his lips and smiled at him. He made a confused face and rubbed his fingers on his lips and looked at them.

**Thanks for the reviews**! **I'm glad you all think my story's cute and well written. I hope I'm doing Vincent's character justice. **


	14. Surprise

**The Touch of Your Flesh**

**Surprise**

After a few more days of playing Dr. Valentine, Vincent was gone again. This time instead of waking me, due to it being a Saturday, he left a short note in his surprisingly very nice handwriting that simply read:

_I've spoken with Reeve. My new mission remains unclear, but I have chosen to leave again nevertheless. Do not waste your time worrying, for if something happens to me I shall be in a better place._

His signature was pure scribbles except for two huge Vs.

Today is Monday. Three days from today is my twenty second birthday. I was already well aware of the surprise party Yuffie, Tifa, and Reno were planning. Tifa could have maybe pulled it off, but Yuffie and Reno were two of the most obvious people on the planet. Just yesterday I asked Yuffie what she was up to and she replied "Nothing! Oh nothing! We definitely aren't planning any surprise birthday parties for you so uh…." She then hung up the phone.

I hadn't talked to Vincent since he left, but for some reason I was having a really hard time picking up the phone to call him. The last two days he was here were very awkward probably due to my question about Lucrecia. In fact he spent most of yesterday sitting out on the porch staring off into space. I even had to go out there and check to see if he hadn't turned into Chaos and flown off somewhere.

◊ **Vincent's POV ◊**

The shrill sound of my cell phone broke me from my day dream, or rather day nightmare if that makes any sense. I felt around my pocket and realized my phone was lying on the grass beside where I was laying.

"This is Vincent." I pushed myself up off the ground and sat upright.

"Vinny! This is Yuffie. You know, Vinaya's birthday is Thursday and we're throwing her a surprise party. She would be _totally_ surprised if you showed." I sighed. It couldn't hurt, there's not much I can do now anyway until Reeve finds out more about Deep ground's actions.

"What time?" I asked.

"Uh….around six o'clock, but it'd be great if you could be in town at four so you can buy her a present." I heard snickering in the background. Tifa….

"I will see." I hung up with Yuffie and stood from the spot I was once laying in. A birthday….I couldn't remember the last time I actually celebrated a birthday. The word in it self depressed me, the more birthdays that pass the sooner I will lose the people who I can call my friends. Once again I will be alone, or maybe I have been all along.

◊ **Vinaya's POV ◊**

"Tifa…come on! I know you guys are planning a surprise party for me so can we please just go home." I whined. Tifa had dragged me into every store in Edge and my feet were killing me, not to mention I was starving to death.

"Could you at least pretend to be surprised! And if we go early we'll ruin everything." Tifa protested as we walked into the next clothing store. I groaned loudly receiving many strange stares from the other customers. I looked down at my watch, it was only four-thirty. I drug my feet as I followed Tifa around the racks of clothes. She showed me random items that would look good on me. I was completely un interested in her style of clothing. She had a lot more….assets than I did so some of the clothes she picked out would only look good on people with _her _body. She was at the moment wearing a long black tube top that reached her knees with light blue jeans on and black flip flops. Her long brown hair was down around her shoulders. I wore a red tank top and a black skirt that reached the top of my knees. I also wore a thick black belt over the long red shirt. I also left my hair down but curled it slightly.

Finally as soon as I thought I was going to fall over, Tifa let me know it was time to return to my house. I sighed with relief and waved down a taxi. Once it arrived at my house Tifa paid despite the argument I put up. I walked slowly up the steps and smiled to myself as I thought of all the people inside thinking they were about to surprise me. I opened the door and before I could even reach over and flip on the light, streamers were being shot at me from all directions and everyone yelled "Surprise!!" I gasped and held my chest.

"You guys! You didn't have to do this." I actually was kinda surprised at how they decorated my whole house. On the kitchen table was a really gorgeous pink cake with Happy Birthday Vinaya written on it in lime green letters. There was also lime green leafs around the sides. I was greeted with many hugs and had gifts being thrown at me from everyone. I took them all to my bedroom and laid the bags and boxes on my bed. When I returned to the living room I heard…

"So, uh…when are we gonna go on that date?" Reno strutted up to me with that grin that would send most girls right out of their minds, or their clothes rather. I smirked at him and rolled my eyes.

"Stop dreaming, Reno." I said nonchalantly taking card held out to me. It was a very simple card that I knew he probably didn't even read himself before picking it up. He didn't spare me much cash either, but hey this is Reno, I was just thankful he wasn't here drunk. Just then the doorbell rang. I looked around the living room and noticed that _everyone_ that was supposed to be here was here. Barret sat in the big chair, Tifa, Cloud, and Yuffie were sitting on the couch, Reno stood leaning against the wall with Rude by his side, Nanaki was curled up in the middle of the floor with his head resting on his paws, Cid and Shera were sitting on the love seat. I slowly approached the door and put my hand on the handle I winced as I opened the door expecting another surprise!! But instead I was greeted with something even more surprising. Vincent Valentine in a new outfit and without his bandana. He wore black dress pants and a long-sleeved buttoned down red shirt with a black wife beater underneath it. His long hair was combed neatly back into a low pony tail, a few strands of his bangs lay on both sides of his face. He looked amazing.

"Happy birthday." He said in a low voice as he handed me a little black bag with silver strings for a handle.

"Thank you!" I took the bag from him and threw my arms around his neck. I felt his body tense under my touch, but I didn't release him. I simply waited for him to hug me back; it was my birthday after all I should at least get a birthday hug. His delayed response finally came when he gently wrapped his arms around me in a slightly tighter hug than our first one. He released me five seconds later. I reluctantly let go, I didn't really want to. I noticed that Vincent was even wearing cologne that smelled great on him! I opened the bag he gave me and pulled out the gorgeous necklace and matching earrings that he bought. I knew he must have had help from someone, because how else would he know just what I like.

"Vincent these are so beautiful. Thank you so much. You really didn't have to." I put them back into the bag and set it on the end table. There was music playing softly in the background and everyone was chatting with each other. Except Yuffie and Tifa who were both whispering awes back and forth to each other as they watched me and Vincent.

"I did." He said seriously. There wasn't a hint of laughter in his voice or any sign of a smile on his face.

"Whoa…man…yo. Count Valentine. Why are you all up on my woman?" Reno came up beside me and put his arm around my shoulders. I shot him a dirty look and smiled at Vincent.

"Do you want some cake, Vincent?" He nodded so I turned and walked into the kitchen, Vincent followed closely. I cut him a piece of cake and put it on a small pink plate for him. We sat at the kitchen table alone together. Everyone else was in the living room and Priya and Marlene were in her bedroom.

"Twenty two?" Vincent shot me a questionable look. I stared into his eyes and nodded. "Ah…do you feel any different?" The silence must have actually bothered him because it wasn't like Vincent to try this hard to make conversation.

"Hmm…not really. Vincent when's your birthday?" I took a bite of the piece of cake I fixed for myself. It was delicious.

"Is it necessary for me to have a birthday anymore?" Although he spoke the words in a sad tone, his lips were curled in a slight smile. His eyes remained on is cake, he was scraping away at the icing with his fork.

"Well yeah, although you're not physically aging, you must be mentally. I mean with every year that you're alive you're becoming wiser." I tried to bring a good thing out of his bad situation. He nodded at this.

"October 13th." He ate a piece of cake that had had all the icing scraped off. "Who made this?"

"I'm pretty sure they bought it." I smiled at Vincent. Why must he be so handsome? A thicker chunk of his bangs came falling over his eye and he quickly put it behind his ear.

After everyone cleared out I returned to my bedroom and looked through the gifts the others bought me. Priya sat on my bed and Vincent stood near by and watched. He had his human hand in his pocket and his clawed arm hanging down by his side. Tifa bought me jewelry and a really gorgeous pink blouse. Cloud, well I know Tifa helped him out, but he bought me a nice watch, Cid and Shera bought the cake, Rude bought me a box of really nice chocolates, and everyone else just got me a card with money.

"Mommy I wanna have a birthday party." Priya leaped towards me on the bed. Vincent took a step closer to the bed with a slight smile on his face. October was only two months away. I thought, maybe Vincent needed a birthday party himself.

"You'll get one. We can invite all your little friends from preschool. We can have it at the park even." I said receiving a loud cheer from her. "But you gotta be on your best behavior or there will be no party." She pouted at me and jumped off the bed.

"Hm." Vincent watched Priya run out of the room with a smirk on his face. "You have an amazing little girl."

"Thank you, Vincent. She means the world to me. If it wasn't for her, I probably wouldn't have pulled through the hard times of my life." I sighed and looked out at the hallway. I heard Priya squealing and meowing at Phoebe. "You can change if you want Vincent, I'm gonna go make sure Priya gets to bed, ok?" I left him in my bedroom alone while I cleaned up the kitchen a little and made sure Priya got to bed. When I returned I caught Vincent coming out of the bathroom, his hair wet, and his bandana back on. What is it with that man and his bandana?! I smiled at him and took his human hand in mine.

"Come sit with me in my room for a little while. I've missed your company, Vincent." His mouth dropped open a little, but he said nothing. I took his dirty clothes from him and tossed them in my clothes basket in my room. I shut the door behind us and hopped on my bed. It was slightly chilly in here, now that I was only in a pair of shorts and a tank top so I went ahead and got under the covers. Vincent sat on the bed and leaned back against the headboard, stretching his legs out in front of him.

"So, tell me, when's this thing going to be over with Deepground?" I hugged my pillow in my arms with my head on top of it, looking up at him. The room was only lit by the small lamp on the end table on the left side of my bed which was nearest to Vincent.

"Reeve….he, someone sent him a disturbing image stating that a man named Weiss whose body has been taken over by Hojo will soon cause the awakening of Omega. The only hope this planet has of surviving is if Omega is destroyed. Chaos is the only thing that can destroy Omega. But I still do not have the protomateria, to control him. However, I will still fight…."

"Vincent….what if…"

"I promised you I would be alright." He cut me off looking down at me with his crimson eyes ablaze. I couldn't stop myself from saying what I did next.

"Vincent….will you ever love anyone besides Lucrecia?" His red glare softened at the mention of her name and he turned away from me.

"Vinaya."

"I know Vincent, I know you don't want to talk about it, but Vincent…I…need to know." I sat up and scooted closer to him, my hand slid over his human hand.

"Why?" He leaned towards me, his eyes resting on my lips. He licked his lips and I saw his adam's apple drop as he swallowed hard.

"So I can stop myself from possibly falling for you now, before it happens and I can't do anything about it." I leaned in closer to him, the point of his nose brushed mine slightly sending all kinds of butterflies through my stomach.

"Then you should stop now." He said before pulling away and getting off of my bed. I glared at the back of him. How dare he manipulate my feelings like that, he knew what he was doing by getting that close.

"She was only a woman, Vincent. I'm sure she couldn't have been _that_ great." I immediately regretted saying that as Vincent spun around on his heels and glared at me. I wanted to crawl underneath the bed and hide as Vincent slowly walked up to the bed. Why did I have to open my mouth?!


	15. See Me Cry

**The Touch of Your Flesh**

**See Me Cry**

I sank lower in the bed and clutched my pillow as Vincent approached the bed glaring at me with his crimson orbs. His eyebrows lowered and his lips were turned down in a frown, I'd rather be staring Chaos in the face than Vincent.

"I wish not to speak of Lucrecia. Is it that hard to understand?" His voice was still in a monotone, but the tone was much lower. I lowered my eyes to the ground. I am not a stupid and I can understand what he's saying just fine. I'm only trying to help. Talking about things is really the key to getting over them.

When I looked up I jerked my head back as I saw his face a little less than a foot away from my face. His eyes were locked on mine, glaring intensely. I looked down at my bedspread.

"How come you can't understand I just want to help you? You can't keep brooding all your life, especially if you're going to be on this planet _forever._ And especially over something as petty and stupid as a love affair." I tried to keep my voice as calm as possible. I didn't want to make him any angrier than he already was.

"You are one to know of stupid love affairs. At least I was not discarded like a worthless…." My head snapped up and it was my turn to glare at him. I sat up in the bed and stood up on my knees so I was close to his face. I drew my hand back to slap him across the face, but at a frightening speed, he caught it less than an inch before it hit his flesh. He squeezed my wrist in his human hand before roughly throwing it down by my side.

"At least I was more to him than a goddamn experiment!" I instantly regretted saying that as the anger in his face increased. His hands were bawled in to two very tight fists down by his sides. Was I really fighting like this with Vincent Valentine? Vincent continued to glare at me with such intensity that I felt tears rushing to my eyes. I then noticed that there was a very thin, but visible rim of water in Vincent's eyes as well.

"I…Vincent I'm…." In a flash Vincent brought his face close to mine again. It was real, Vincent may have not been actually crying, but there were tears in his eyes.

"You've said enough." He said in a dangerously low voice. "You know nothing of Lucrecia." He paused before raising his voice. "You have no right to say anything about what we had! No one will ever know how much I loved her! A love greater than you will ever know!"

A tear dropped down my cheek and I reached to wipe it away, but Vincent's hand grabbed mine again and roughly threw it back to my side. I flinched as he wiped the tear away with his thumb. "Don't let me see you cry, Vinaya." More tears poured out of my eyes and my shoulders shook as I lost control and began to fully cry. Vincent's eyes softened and he put his hands on my shoulders.

"Please don't cry. I don't want to see you cry, Vinaya." He reached up to wipe more of my tears away but I slapped his hand away.

"Why? You don't care Vincent. You can only love your _Lucrecia_." I said her name with disgust written all over my face. "Let me go and just get out. I can't help you anymore." With one sniff, I composed myself and wiped the tears from my cheeks. Vincent composed himself as well and backed away from my bed.

"If that is what you wish." He turned away from me and exited my room, slamming the door so hard a picture fell from the wall onto the soft carpet. I buried my face into my pillow and cried. Why did I let myself fall in love with Vincent Valentine? Why did he lead me on like that if he could only love Lucrecia?

◊ **Vincent's POV ◊**

Why did I let her upset me like this? I threw off the pajamas she bought me and kicked over the clothes basket. I took a few deep breaths to try and calm myself. Why didn't I just tell her the truth? Vinaya I want to allow myself fall in love with you, but I would only be a burden to you. I cannot love you as much as you deserved to be loved for I do not even love myself anymore. I am immortal; this can't even last until the day _we_ die because you will grow old and die before me, leaving me in a more broken state that you found me in. I sighed loudly and put my original clothes on and fastened my cloak. I had gotten so used to using her flight car I didn't know how I was going to be able to walk, but I had no choice. I was no longer welcome here. No…not now….I fell to my knees, my pride wouldn't allow me to yell her name so I let him take over…

◊ **Vinaya's POV ◊**

Glass shattered. I shot out of bed and ran out of my bedroom. Vincent's door was wide open so I could see in the room I allowed him to stay in. The window was completely shattered and I could smell the sent of a demon in the room. Chaos…. My eyes welled up again. Vincent….I'm so sorry. There was nothing I could do now, he was gone…

The next couple of days were harder than ever for me. Once again I was back to feeling worthless and unwanted. Why is it people tell me I am so beautiful and so special yet I can't even find a person who will love me. Priya's birthday was coming up soon and I still needed to plan her party. I called Tifa for help.

"Hey girl…so tell me what hap….pened…awww Vinaya." Tifa watched as I began crying, thinking about what happened with Vincent. She hugged me and smiled.

"I told him to get out…and he….I guess he didn't even want to ask me for help because before he left Chaos took control and he flew through the window in the spare bedroom." I could no longer call it Vincent's room. This thought alone sent more tears from my eyes. Tifa rubbed and patted my back.

"Its ok…he'll come back."

"No he won't. We fought. I told him he was nothing to Lucrecia but her experiment. He called me worthless trash." I grabbed a tissue and blew my nose loudly. Priya was off at school so I didn't have to worry about her seeing me so upset. This is what I get for holding in all my emotions over the past four years, they were bound to come spilling out like this.

"Did Vincent really say that?" Tifa looked amazed.

"No, those weren't his exact words, but he might as well have. I don't wanna talk about it anymore. I feel so bad. What if something happens to him? It's all my fault." I squeaked out the last few words of my sentence as the tears came pouring down my face.

Cloud's already out looking for him. I'll tell him to have him call you so you guys can make up. Don't get so upset. Cloud and I fight all the time and throw each others problems in our faces and walk out, but we always make up. You guys will make up and it will be fine."

"He doesn't love me. He's not falling for me. He said he could only love Lucrecia. And that _I_ will never know that kind of love." I must have looked pathetic sitting there in my pink pajamas, my eyes puffy and nose bright red from blowing it. Tifa left me and brought us back glasses of water.

"Vinaya, I told you Vincent was going to be hard to crack." I began to calm down a little bit when I noticed how calm Tifa was being through all of this. Maybe she was right. Maybe Cloud would find him, and he'd come back.

"He almost cried." My eyes were wide and vacant. I thought back and remembered looking into his crimson eyes with that thin line of water rimming them.

"Vincent?" Tifa's jaw dropped. "Like fully cry like tears." She ran her fingers down her cheeks demonstrating crying for me as if I didn't know what it looked like to cry.

"His eyes were just a little watery. When he saw me cry he calmed down a little bit and tried to wipe my tears away."

"Awww…see he cares about you." Tifa grinned at me in an attempt to cheer me up. I sighed and wiped away the last of my tears. Priya would be coming home in a little less than an hour and I needed to pull myself together for her.

◊ **Vincent's POV ◊**

"Vincent, what happened?" Cloud asked me. I contemplated hanging up the phone. "Vincent? I've been all over town looking for you."

"I am no longer welcome here Cloud." I finally said after a long silence. A woman with red hair worn in an interesting style stood on the street looking at me. She wore a very tiny smile and gave me a look that I could not decipher. I chose to ignore her and keep walking.

"Vincent, you're welcome to stay with us then." Cloud's voice was full of desperation, but I ignored it. I couldn't possible stay with them. I would kill them all within a week the way Chaos has been acting.

"Cloud I'm sorry. After I finish this battle and save the planet, please allow me to regain my solitude." I hung up on him and continued walking. A while later I contacted Reeve. He would have to send transportation for me and give me directions to this place where I am to find Weiss or Hojo rather. I chose not to think much of Vinaya. That would only be a distraction from what I needed to get done. I also began to wonder about the identity of the woman who gave me that look. As I continued to walk I chose not to think much of that either. I've got a mission to do, a planet to save, and no time for these foolish games.

**This is a shorter chapter but the next one will be really long because alots gonna happen.**


	16. My Savior

**The Touch of Your Flesh**

**My Savior**

◊**Vinaya's POV◊ **

It was two days after I fought with Vincent. He hadn't returned, Cloud told me he had gotten a hold of him, but that didn't tell me much. I was worried out of my mind for him, and it hurt not to be able to pick up the phone and call him. I sat on the couch in my lavender silk pajama pants and white tank top watching TV. Priya was already asleep and I was contemplating going to sleep myself although it was just a few minutes before nine o'clock. The doorbell rang throughout the quiet house. My heart skipped a beat. Could it be him? I rushed to the door and looked out of the peephole. No...it definitely was a red headed woman. I opened the door just enough to peek through the crack at her.

"Excuse me...is this the residence of Mr. Valentine?" she asked in her thick accent. I looked at her top and saw the electric blue lines printed on it. I remembered the members of Deep Ground that were terrorizing the city had those same blue lines on their clothes. I swallowed hard and shook my head no.

"He left yesterday. I was only housing him for the moment." I kept a firm hold on the doorknob.

"May I ask you a few questions Miss Yadavalli?" her eyes narrowed at me and a thin smile appeared on her lips. I nodded and opened the door a little wider. How did she know my name?

"Why don't you come with me?" The woman snatched me up by my wrist, I screamed and the last sound I heard was her cackling evilly.

◊**Vincent's POV◊ **

After an interesting encounter with a man named Nero who claimed to be Weiss's brother, I took shelter in a dimly lit vacant room. There were no furniture only empty boxes of cargo and bugs. I sat down on the cold floor and leaned up against the wall.

_At least I was more to him than a goddamn experiment! _Her words had stung me that day almost to the point of tears, but I did my best to hide them. I sighed and leaned my head roughly back against the wall. I knew my battle with Omega wasn't far. Should I not make it through, it would be of my greatest wishes to see her face again.

I winced as a picture of her tearful face flashed through my mind. Why did it hurt me so much to see her cry? I groaned out loud as I realized what was happening or what had already happened just days after I met her….

My cell phone rang and I grabbed it quickly before the noise drew attention to my hiding place.

"This is Vincent."

"Vinny!! You've gotta come help!" I sighed and threw my head back against the wall, this time feeling a little bit of pain. I lifted my head and rubbed the back of it with my human hand.

"What's happened?" I remained calm although I could already hear the young girl crying.

"Deepground! Everywhere! Tifa's been sent off to the hospital, Cloud's lost, and Vinaya's been kidnapped!! I'm alone in her house with Priya and Nanaki is here with me." Once Yuffie got her words out I heard a quiet sob from her.

"Yuffie. Stay in the house. Right now I am not quite able to return to Edge, but sometime tomorrow I will be there. Lock all the doors and stay calm, ok? Everything will be alright." I used the most gentle voice I knew how to hoping to calm Yuffie. It does nothing to get excited in times like these.

"Ok." Yuffie replied. "Vincent hurry I'm scared. Can you keep talking to me? I feel better hearing your voice."

I sighed. "Ok. What do you want to speak about?"

"Ummmm" her voice was shaky and her breathing was heavy. "So uh….why'd you get mad at Vinaya?"

I paused… I tried to remember all the events of that night. I remembered thinking how beautiful she looked on her birthday. How her smile lit up the room when she saw the jewelry Yuffie helped me pick out. I remembered walking into her bedroom and sitting on the bed with her….our faces so close, her lips looked so tempting, then I blew it all by opening my mouth, and she pressed me for an answer of my feelings for anyone else but Lucrecia. They way she spat out her name like it was nothing set me off at first, but as she continued the anger just grew out of nowhere. In a way I don't even think the anger was directed at only her.

"Vincent? Please I know you're not a talkative person, but please talk to me." Yuffie's voice still shook with fear.

"Oh…I'm sorry…I…I don't know why I was angry with Vinaya. Maybe it wasn't really her I was angry with." Here I go again letting the biggest mouth in the world hear my true feelings. I continued to talk with her, changing the subject to a less private topic until she calmed down enough to go to sleep. I sat wide awake in the vacant room, afraid to sleep.

◊ **Vinaya's POV ◊**

I sat in a chair, my arms tied behind the back of the chair, and my ankles tied to the two front legs of the chair. I watched as the woman who called herself Rosso paced back and forth cackling at my pitiful state. I was still dressed in the white tank top and silk lavender pajama pants.

"So do you know why you're here?" she asked stopping directly in front of me and leaning down into my face. I glared at her, if she got any closer I'd bite her nose off. "I know you're housing Mr. Vincent Valentine. And I know you know where he is. So tell me, and as soon as we find him, you're free."

I've already done Vincent wrong; I'm not going to make it worse. "I _was_ housing Vincent, but he left and I honestly have no idea where he is. All I know is he plans on stopping Deepground and saving the planet from Omega's awakening." This sent Rosso into another fit of her evil laughing. I could only glare at her.

"Oh we will see about that. Omega will awake in nearly 3 weeks. At this time he will take flight and use this planet as his vehicle into space. This planet will be no more, which is what Weiss wants therefore that is what Deepground wants, and that is what we will all get." She laughed loudly again and strutted out of the room. "Hail Weiss." I heard her yell as she left. I began to panic. What am I going to do? Where is Vincent now?! Will he even come save me? I bet he doesn't even care now if I die or not. My cell phone rang again for the twentieth time but I couldn't reach it.

◊**Vincent's POV◊ **

There was no answer from her phone. It could be possible she only wishes not to speak with me. It's rather stubborn of her, does she wish to die? I looked at the time on my cell phone. It was almost five in the morning, I now sat in Reeve's vehicle as he drove us back to Edge. Before we even entered the city I could see helicopters hovering around the tall buildings. I jumped up on the roof of Reeve's vehicle in which he called the Shadow Fox. I balanced myself on top of the roof while shooting nearby Deepground soldiers that were "patrolling" the entrance to the city. Forgive me, but it is not you that run this city. I shot a sniper standing in a window and watched him fall out of the window crashing onto a yellow taxi that was parked below it.

The city of Edge was indeed in turmoil, there were fires, riots, blood in the streets…. I jumped back inside the Shadow Fox and directed Reeve towards Vinaya's house. Yuffie's flight car was parked outside on the street. This part of the neighborhood seemed fine. I ran up the three porch stairs and banged on the door with my metal appendage. "Yuffie it's Vincent." I said. With my very sensitive hearing, I heard her tip toe up to the door and press her ear against it suspiciously. Once she was aware it was me she flung the door open and I quickly got inside. If I was seen in this house Yuffie and Priya would no longer be safe.

"Yuffie. I need you to be calm and tell me everything you know about Vinaya's kidnapping." I cut straight to the chase. Of course I was worried for my friends, but for her….I was the most concerned. I will save her; I will not fail her like I did Lucrecia. I may not be allowed to love her, but I can at least show her I care.

"Well…" she took a deep breath and we both sat down on the couch in the living room. Priya was fast asleep on the love seat clutching a huge stuffed cat. "There was a strange woman in town, I think her name is Rossa…Rossu..Rosso!! It's Rosso. She came to the new bar Tifa just opened up a couple of weeks ago and asked her if she was familiar with a man named Vincent Valentine. This is all according to Tifa, by the way. Anyways, she told her yeah she knew you then this Rosso chick demanded that Tifa tell her where you were. Tifa started to feel a little weird and didn't want to trust this woman anymore so she tried to fight her. Then that chick brought out some huge blades and cut Tifa's arm pretty badly. That's when Cloud just so happened to barge in and fight Rosso until she fled the bar. Cloud then took Tifa to the hospital and just disappeared. And _then_ I came back here looking for Vinaya and the door was wide open, Priya was sitting in here alone crying and I've been here with her ever since. That's all I know." I listened intently to her long summary of the events that had taken place in my absence. I sighed loudly.

"Do you have any idea where….this…Rosso may have taken Vinaya?" I watched as Yuffie shook her head no with a sad smile on her face. We both turned to look at Priya as she stirred and awoke.

"Where's mommy?" the girl stood from the love seat and hopped up into my lap on the couch. She threw her arms around my neck. "Vince….find mommy." I swallowed hard and slowly wrapped my arms around her small body. I rested my human hand on her head and smoothed her straight black hair down a bit. Yuffie stared at me with wide eyes. Yes, I know this is not like the Vincent Valentine my friends knew. But what could I do? I care for Priya as I do her mother and only wish to comfort her.

"I will find your mother, Priya. Everything will be….ok." I stood with the girl in my arms and carried her to her bedroom. I pulled back her pink blankets and placed her on the bed. She pulled the covers up to her chin and looked up at me with her brown eyes. Seeing them reminded me so much of her mother. I couldn't pull my eyes away from hers.

"Vince?"

"Hmm?" I forced a tiny smile.

"Are you going to stay with us forever?" My smile faded at her question. Was I even welcome here anymore at all?

"I don't know….Priya, but I…." I stopped and broke eye contact with her. "You should rest for a couple of hours, do you have school tomorrow?" She frowned and looked as if she were to start crying. "Shh…its ok, if you do not wish to go, I won't make you." Her expression softened as she nodded.

◊ **Vinaya's POV ◊**

My stomach let out a low growl. It had now been three days since I was kidnapped. They only fed me enough to keep me alive. I wondered what Priya was doing…had she been in school? Who is taking care of her? Where is Vincent and will he even try to save me? I wouldn't blame him for not, but…I am here because of him. I heard alarms going off and through the window that led into the hallway I could see a faint red light flashing. Four Deep ground soldiers busted through the door to the room I was being held in.

"Seize her!" I assumed this was their group's leader. The more sharply dressed soldier stood back and watched as the other three approached me slowly as if I were a snake ready to bite.

"No!!" I screamed. "Don't touch me!!" I shook the chair. One of them pointed their gun at me. I closed my eyes and heard a gun shot. I felt warm liquid splatter on my face. I heard three more gun shots. I kept my eyes shut tightly. Silence…am I dead? I was afraid to open my eyes.

"Are you ok……Vinaya?" My eyes snapped open at the sound of that familiar deep voice. I couldn't say a word. He looked down at me with his normal impassive features. He was wearing that cloak that fully covered his mouth from my angle which made him look even more intimidating. He squatted down beside me and untied my sore ankles. He then walked behind me and started untying my hands.

"You did not answer me." His voice gave me chills. It was so close to my ear. When he freed my hands, he held out his human one for me to take. I pulled myself up a little faster than my legs were ready for and fell against him. He took me into his arms upon realizing my legs weren't going to carry me. I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face into the front of his red cloak the blood that had splattered on my face from the soldier now smeared invisibly onto his red cloak.

"Vincent….I'm so sorry." Here come the tears again. Since when have I been so emotionally charged?! To my surprise, he squeezed me just as tight and rested his head on top of mine.

"Please…..its hurts me to see you cry." My legs finally regained their strength and I pulled back from him in order to wipe my tears away. He kept my shoulders in his hands lightly stroking my left shoulder with his right hand. Both of our heads turned sharply at the sound of more gunshots in the hallway. Vincent grabbed my wrist and ran with me out into the hallway and through another door. We ran together down a flight of stairs and then Vincent pulled me into a very tiny closet that was lit by a small light bulb that seemed to be dying out.

We stood less than an inch apart, both panting heavily. Once I caught my breath, I began to shift around uncomfortably under his gaze.

"I'm the one who should apologize." He said out of the blue. I looked up at him, his face still held an impassive look.

"No Vincent…I…I've fallen for you. I said what I did out of jealousy. I'm sorry… I just…" Vincent's lips came crushing down onto mine the impact sent me against the wall, his body came pressing against mine as he deepened the kiss. I welcomed his warm tongue into my mouth, grabbing the back of his head. His human hand slid up my arm and cradled the side of my face. He slowly pulled away and kept his eyes on my lips.

"Vincent…." I whispered in disbelief.

"I'm sorry…I couldn't stop…I.." It was my turn to surprise him with a kiss that sent him into the wall behind him. A deep moan escaped his throat as he slipped his hand up the back of my tank top and gently massaged my skin with his finger tips. His touch felt so good I knew this had to be a dream, but it wasn't. I am kissing Vincent Valentine.

Vincent pulled his hand out of my shirt and pulled away from me. "Vinaya I can't do this to you." He said in a breathy voice.

"Yes you can I want you to." I kept a hold of the back of his head, our faces remained inches apart. "Vincent I love you." Vincent froze. I watched as his eyes welled up again, but no tears fell. "I know…this can't last forever, but Vincent I can't think about the future right now. All I know is I love you now, and I want you now, I don't care what happens in the future. For all we know Deepground could actually succeed and this planet will be no more. What then Vincent?" He didn't move from his frozen position, his eyes didn't leave mine nor did the rim of water in them fade. After minutes of his unresponsiveness I took his shoulders in mine and shook him. "Vincent!"

His cell phone rang breaking him out of his daze. He fumbled with the phone a bit before opening it.

"This is…"

"Yes, I have her. Yes, I'm safe. Ok as soon as the coast is clear we will escape the way I broke in."

"Goodbye." Vincent put his phone back in its pocket and stared at the floor. "That was Yuffie, she wanted to make sure we were both safe."

"Oh." I said looking away as well. I sighed. Now he was going to avoid the topic completely. Will I ever crack this man? I know Tifa told me it was going to be hard, but damn I nearly died for him. I sighed again and leaned back against the wall and Vincent leaned back against the wall across from me. He closed his eyes, but by his quick breathing and the fact that he wasn't snoring, I knew he was still awake.


	17. Confessions

**The Touch of Your Flesh**

**Confessions**

◊**Vinaya's POV◊ **

I couldn't look Vincent in the face as we walked side by side down what seemed like an endless street. I had no idea where we were, but couldn't ask. He told he was taking me home so I trusted him and just followed his lead. I almost tripped over my own feet as I drug them along. Talk about embarrassing.

"Are you ok?" Vincent asked extending his human hand out to me. I took it, now I _really_ couldn't look him in the face. He didn't let go of my hand, I guess he assumed I was too clumsy to walk on my own, or maybe he felt Chaos stirring. I didn't even answer if I was ok or not, because I wasn't even sure. I just wanted to get into the shower and lie down in my bed, hold my daughter and see my Phoebe.

"Have we traded roles?" Vincent looked down at me with a small smile playing on his lips. Has he forgotten all that has happened? I could only look up at him hoping he could read the confusion in my face. He sighed and looked ahead again. "I used to be the one who wouldn't speak….lost in my thoughts…it seems that you have taken that role."

"I…uh…Vincent…." I can't speak. What can I say? I'm mad at him for making me think he was falling in love with me, I felt sorry for making him so upset, and I was embarrassed for telling him I loved him. What is there for me to say?

"Don't worry. I won't tell the others what happened…it can be as if it never did." That wasn't what I wanted to hear. Vincent, damnit can't you understand?! I love you and I want to be with you! Forget about that damn Lucrecia and Chaos. I don't give a damn that you don't age! It should be enough for you to live on knowing that I'm still loving you no matter where I'm at! Shit, I'm so frustrated!

"Vinaya?" Vincent stopped and looked at me, he must have noticed the scowl on my face.

I sighed loudly. "I just want to go home, Vincent. I'm too tired, hungry, and dirty to feel like talking."

"Ok." He sighed sounding defeated. Finally I started to see the familiar tall buildings of Edge. My legs were hurting so bad I didn't think I could take another step. Just when I thought my legs were going to fall off, Vincent squatted down in front of me and told me to hop on. He stood up again with me on his back. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pieces of his silky black hair flew back in my face and I was constantly spitting them out of my mouth. "Sorry." He muttered. "I may cut my hair soon."

"Don't." I said quicker than I could even think. I squeezed my eyes shut before I thought of what to say next. "I mean… most guys can't pull off long hair like this, but for some reason it just fits you."

"Hmm…" he replied. I leaned my head against his and closed my eyes. Where did all these feelings come from? Why do I love him this much all of a sudden? I fought back the tears that threatened to pour down my cheeks. I'm sure Vincent has had enough of seeing me cry.

When I opened my eyes again I realized we were walking up my sidewalk. Vincent carried me up the three porch steps. "Ok.." he said as he slowly put my down. I felt kind of stupid knocking on my own door, but I didn't have the keys. Yuffie pulled the door open and threw her arms around me pulling me inside.

"Mommy!" Priya yelled as she ran up to me. I scooped her up and swung her around in my arms, petting her hair in the process. I noticed Vincent had not yet stepped inside.

"I'm gonna go tell Cloud and Tifa you guys are home safe. And I should probably be heading home my father's gonna kill me for being gone this long." With that Yuffie grabbed her stuff and was gone. Vincent still hadn't moved from welcome mat.

"I…guess I should go…" Vincent sighed and turned to leave.

"Vincent. You are welcome to stay here." I smiled at him. He sent a hint of a smile back at me and closed the door and locked it. I smiled wider at his protectiveness over the house.

◊**Vincent's POV◊ **

I took my shoes off and stepped further into the living room.

"I'm going to take a shower and change into some clean pajamas." I looked her up and down. Her silk lavender pants had blood stains on them as well as her white shirt. Her shoulder length ebony hair was tousled and there were still stains on her face from when I shot the Deepground soldier who threatened to touch her. None of this hid her beauty. I looked away and nodded.

"You can do the same." She turned away and walked down the hallway. I walked into the bedroom that was still set up for me. The broken window now had boards over it. I grabbed the long sleeved black pajama shirt and pants and decided to shower also. I stood in the small shower leaning against the white wall, eyes closed letting the water beat against me. I covered my chest with my human hand as I felt something form a tight grip around my heart. This can't be happening to me? Why am I so weak? I can't love her…

I walked down the hallway patting my wet hair down with a towel. Vinaya was in Priya's room giving her a goodnight kiss. I walked slowly passed her room and into the room I could call my own. I sat down on the end of the bed and gave my hair one last shake with the towel, attempting to dry it. When I looked up I saw Vinaya entering her bedroom across the hall. I need to talk to her…I need to tell her the truth. I feel as if I may have hurt her. Vinaya is not one to act so distant, that was me…that was my role. I slowly approached her doorway; she didn't seem to notice me there at first so I cleared my throat. Her head instantly turned in my direction.

"Can we…talk?" She sat down on the end of her bed and nodded. I sat no more than three inches away from her and rested my elbows on my knees as I leaned forward to avoid looking directly at her.

"This is hard for me to say…but…I feel as if I have done something wrong…" I looked up at her to see her reaction. Why must she be so beautiful?

◊**Vinaya's POV◊ **

Vincent sat back and rested his elbows on the bed, looking up at me. I sighed.

"Its nothing…I just….I'm having a hard time dealing with the feelings I developed for you." Vincent frowned deeply. He then sat back up straight and turned to me. I swore to myself not to let him kiss me again, or let me kiss him. Even though his lips looked so tempting.

"Vinaya…I do…feel the same…but I just….I just don't want to be hurt again. That's all…" I climbed into his lap and wrapped my arms around him. I heard him swallow hard, and his body tensed up. "Please…don't tempt me… because if I start….I won't be able to stop and I don't want to do that to you." He whispered against my wet hair. I shifted in his lap and sat directly over his swelling manhood. He swallowed hard again, and I could see a slight blush creeping over his cheeks. I looked into his eyes that were now dark with desire, but at the same time lined with fear. I know what Vincent meant by being hurt again, I didn't want it either, but I couldn't stop myself from loving him anyway. I pressed my lips against his and very slowly grinded against his now fully aroused member. That seemed to break down whatever wall he had built, as he let out a sigh and wrapped his arms around me falling back against my bed with me on top of him.

"I can't do this…Vinaya please don't let me do this." He whispered despite the fact his hands were roaming all over my body. His cool metal digits grazing my skin sent a enticing sensation throughout my body, but as much as I wanted him right now and as much as I knew he wanted me right now, I knew his heart was in a different place and I didn't want to do this until his heart was in the right place and he could fully give himself to me. So I rolled off of him and laid beside him leaving him panting slightly, his erection showing clearing through the thin silk pajama pants.

"Thank you." He whispered, slowly turning his head to look at me. I scooted up against the head board and slid under the covers.

"Sleep here tonight." I told Vincent, he looked slightly paler if that was possible and his mouth was still dropped open a bit. He closed it and swallowed again. He got under the covers with me and turned his back to me. I sighed and turned off the lamp.

"Vincent…just for the record…There's no use in trying to fight this because I will break you down Valentine." I laughed softly afterwards. "You _do_ deserve happiness, even if it doesn't last forever. And I promise when I return to the Planet, Vincent I will leave you with nothing but amazing memories and a love so strong it will carry you through the rest of eternity." Wow that was deep! Did I just say that? I smiled in the darkness, but then gasped as I felt two strong arms pull me close to a warm body. He didn't say anything, but just held me closely stroking my hair. I ran my fingers through his long wet locks as well until I heard his breathing deepened followed by his familiar soft, light snores.

I woke up the next morning with the sun on my face and an arm thrown over me. I had my back to the sleeping man. He let out a heavy sight and snuggled his nose into my neck. It tickled slightly and I shifted, waking him in the process.

"Vinaya?" he murmured against my ear. "What time is it? I should go soon."

"Don't go." I placed my hand over his hand that was rested slightly over my stomach.

"I must." He replied quickly. "If I don't, there will be no more Planet."

"Omega won't awake for another 3 weeks, Rosso told me so. So you can at least stay the rest of this week." I rolled over so I was facing him. I gently reached up and took off his bandana, throwing it to the floor. His eyes followed the floating object to the floor, I then turned his face towards mine again. His eyes began to dart around my face and I already felt him tense up.

"I suppose….I could stay….if you want…." He spoke very slowly, eyes on my lips as they got closer to his. He let me give him a chaste kiss without pulling away. "What you said….last night…I…"

"I meant it Vincent." I gently ran my fingers through his hair; his arm was still around me, his human hand spread out across my back. He furrowed his brows as he went into that distant world of his. I waited until he came out of it and spoke again.

"I think….I…may just….I want to….Vinaya I love you." His face held so much emotion at that point; I didn't quite know how to take it. I smiled at him and gave him one more short kiss. He pulled me into his strong arms. We both froze as we heard the door open.

"Mommy…I'm hungry." Priya whined, her eyes widened when she saw Vincent laying there beside me. Vincent smiled at her as he quickly sat up. He then looked back at me as if to ask what he should do, I only smiled back at him and got out of bed.

"Ok sweetie, what do you want this morning? Pancakes like normal?" I walked up to the doorway aiming to follow Priya to the kitchen, but Priya wouldn't take her eyes off Vincent. He could only sit on my bed like a deer in headlights.


	18. People From the Past

**The Touch of Your Flesh**

**People from the Past**

It was so awkwardly silent in the kitchen, I was afraid to swallow. I've explained relationships to Priya before, we've even had the sex talk. I was focused on the pancakes, but occasionally I glanced at Vincent out of the corner of my eye. He sat with his arms crossed on the table staring down at the red place mat. His bangs covered most of his face without the bandana.

"Did you sex my mommy?"

I flipped a pancake onto the floor. Vincent's head shot up so fast his bangs flew back away from his face. I looked at Priya. She had the look of a judge interrogating a defendant. She had her arms cross and was leaned back in her chair.

"….." Vincent looked up at me before letting out a nervous laugh. It was the very first time I had ever even seen him laugh although it was nothing more than a few chuckles mixed with a few breaths. I heard him chuckle over the phone, but I never got a chance to see his face.

I finally snapped back into reality. "No Priya! And don't ever ask Vincent a question like that! What did I tell you about being rude to him?"

She pouted up at me and put her head down. "Sorry." She mumbled quietly. Vincent stood and took the seat closest to her.

"It's ok. I'm not offended." I watched as he gave her a friendly smile, but showed no teeth. It was refreshing to see him acting this way, instead of sitting at the table quietly brooding like he did most mornings. She smiled back at him.

"Are you coming to my birthday party?" She twirled her long hair in her fingers. Vincent nodded, he was still wearing that warm smile.

"And that is in four days, am I right?"

Priya nodded eagerly. I sat a plate of pancakes in front of her and handed her a small fork. Vincent gave me a look and I laughed. I'm sure he had just been highly embarrassed. I then turned around with two plates in my hands and sat down across from Vincent as I plated one in front of him. Breakfast was quiet as usual. Priya dressed herself in a pair of light pink pants and a white and pink stripped shirt. I pulled her hair up into a high ponytail and combed her bangs neatly. Vincent insisted that he walk Priya to her stop and I stay inside. He even carried his gun with him out in the open. Priya asked what it was, and didn't seem the slightest bit alarmed when he told her.

He returned to find me sitting on the couch in black Addidas pants and a white T-shirt with an Addidas logo in the middle. I pulled my hair back into a messy bun. Vincent was still in his black silk pajamas. He sat his gun down on the coffee table like it was nothing and I stared at him until he said.

"What?"

"Vincent you know I don't like guns."

"Sorry…." He carried it off to his room then returned and sat next to me on the couch. He watched the TV and didn't say anything to me for a good five minutes. "So…uh…how do we explain what's going on to your daughter."

"I've explained the concept of love to her. She'll understand. I don't feel the need to tell her yet, because if something happens to you…."

"It won't. I will _not_ fail. Please don't doubt me." He gently rested his clawed arm on the back of the couch behind me. I took this as an invitation to cuddle, so I snuggled up to him and kissed his jaw line. He flinched slightly, then relaxed and rested his head against mine. "You know….now that I've let myself fall in love with you….you're mine forever."

I laughed and picked up his human hand in mine. "Sounds good to me. It's been a while since I've let a guy claim me as his."

"Mmm…" he replied his sharp claws gently scraped my shoulder in an intimate gesture.

"You pressed me about Lucrecia…so I want to press you about….Priya's father."

"You never really told me about her. So why should I tell you about Christian?"

"Ah…So his name is Christian." A small smile appeared on his lips. "A fool this Christian was…"

I laughed softly. "Maybe…"

"No…Vinaya, you are the epitome of what every man wants. He had to be a fool to let you go…" I gently placed my hand on the back of his head and kissed his lips. He pulled away after five seconds.

"How did you meet Christian?"

"We've known each other since elementary school."

"Ah… I met Lucrecia while I was a Turk during the Jenova Project. I was against the whole thing, but was powerless to stop it. That's why I've blamed myself…"

"Everything happens for a reason. That's why through everything, I never really blamed anybody. Not even Christian. Because…like…when I was with him, I was just so helpless. I depended on him for everything. I needed to be forced off on my own. I am who I am now because of that. So really I should thank him."

"No…" Vincent chuckled again. "I should be the one thanking him." His clawed arm came around me pulling me closer to him.

"How long were you with Lucrecia?" I gently ran my finger tips over the smooth skin on the back of his hand and up to his elbow, then down again. He seemed a little confused at my gestures, but nevertheless replied.

"We were never officially together…as she was….married." He sighed. "This is hard for me to talk about, Vinaya. Lucrecia is a person of my past, and I would like to keep it that way. If I am to move on, I need to try and forget her. The more I talk about her….the more those feelings erupt in my heart. The only feelings I want to have in my heart are those for you." I smiled and looked up at him. He wasn't smiling, but how much can you expect Vincent Valentine to smile in a day's time. I leaned up and kissed him on the lips again. He didn't react, but didn't reject it either. When I rested my head against his shoulder again, he held me even closer and rested his head on top of mine. "Is it not painful for you to speak of Christian?"

"Vincent, me and you are in totally different situations. I only have hatred for that guy. You on the other hand, still have a strong love for her." Vincent lifted his head and looked down at me. Maybe he was surprised that I was able to read him so well. His eyes travelled around my face and stopped at my lips a couple of times. I smiled at him and closed my eyes; I wanted him to initiate the kiss.

My cell phone rang, and my eyes snapped open.

"Hello?" Vincent sighed and leaned back into the couch. He took his arm from around me and rested both of his hands in his lap. He seemed to go off into his little world again.

"Vinaya! How are you? Are you ok? Is Vincent there? Did you two make up yet?" Came Tifa's string of questions.

I laughed. "I'm fine, Tifa. And…yes Vincent and I made out…uh up!" We both laughed.

"Did he kiss you?"

"Yes." I couldn't keep from beaming. Vincent smiled knowingly. He scooted closer to me.

"Awwww!! Well, I'll leave you guys alone then, I just wanted to make sure you were all right."

"Thanks Tifa." I kept smiling. "Bye."

After cuddling with Vincent for a few more minutes, I decided I had to get things done around the house. The kitchen was an absolute wreck, dishes everywhere. I stood at the sink scrubbing away when I felt a strong presence behind me. When I turned to him he gently took the bowl I was holding out of my hand and picked up a dish rag. "Allow me."

I sighed and didn't even put up a fight. I knew he'd win anyway. He instantly became focused on removing every speck of food from every dish. I left him to this to begin doing other things like laundry and vacuuming. Later Vincent left again to pick Priya up from preschool carrying his weapon. They returned home safely. This same routine continued over the next two and a half days. Over those two and a half days I got to know a different side of Vincent. He was actually romantic in a shocking and unbelievable way. I mean, he still had those relapses into the dark, silent, brooding Vincent, but lately he seemed to bounce right back into this new Vincent.

Late Friday night, Vincent and I stayed up lying on the couch together watching a movie. He kept dozing off during it and I would have to gently elbow him in the stomach to keep him awake. There was a sudden loud bang against the front door. Vincent, standing up quick as lightening and awake as ever, went for his gun. He came back just in time for another round of loud banging on the door.

"Go to Priya's room, and hide with her. I can handle this." Vincent said quietly. When I didn't move he turned to me with that intense look in his crimson eyes. "Go!" I obeyed him and ran into Priya's room.

◊ **Vincent's POV ◊**

I approached the door slowly. And with one swift movement flung the door open and pointed my gun right between the person's eyes. The dark haired, dark skinned man raised his hands above his head.

"Please don't shoot!" The man looked into Cerberus' barrels. I lowered the gun and eyed him suspiciously. He stood a few inches shorter than I, his build was average. I wouldn't need a gun to fight him.

"Who are you?"

"Christian Cortez. I only came to see if Vinaya had returned home safe. I saw on the news that she was kidnapped by those uh…Deep..somethin or others…" My stomach churned slightly as I realized who this was. We had just spoken of him. I assume upon not hearing any gunshots, Vinaya saw it safe to return from Priya's room. She froze behind the couch as she saw who was at the door. Priya ran out also but stopped beside her mother and clung to her thigh upon seeing the new stranger….her father.

I turned and looked at Vinaya. She tore her gaze away from Christian and looked at me. "Vincent, close the door…." I turned to the man at the door and saw him staring down at Priya.

"Wait….is that…is she mine?" Christian pushed past me and approached the little girl. Priya's grip tightened on her mom's thigh. Vinaya turned her back on the dark haired man shielding Priya.

"Leave us alone, and just get out." I heard Vinaya say quietly. The dark haired man ran his fingers through his spikey hair and turned around to walk back out the door. He turned and gave what could have been his family one last look. "I only came because I was worried."

"Well, we're fine!" Vinaya yelled. Priya looked up at her mom and began to whimper noticing the tension in the room.

"Vinaya…" I said calmly as I watched her get worked up. I sat my gun down on the end table.

"Don't Vincent!" She then looked up at Christian. "Get out of here. I don't need you worrying for me."

The man dropped his gaze to the floor and walked out the door. I knew I shouldn't have, but I followed him outside and shut the door behind me. He looked at me suspiciously.

"Are you with her now?" he asked a bit rudely. I nodded and crossed my arms across my chest.

"Why'd you leave her?" I received another rude gesture from this man. He put his hand on his hip and pointed his finger at me as he talked.

"You don't know me, dude. I have my reasons for what I do. We are men; we gotta do what we gotta do to get by. I wouldn't have been a good father anyway." He looked away down the street that was lit by a passing flight car.

"A man stands and faces his problems." With that I turned around and walked up the three porch steps. I could feel the man's glare against my back, but I couldn't have cared any less. I opened the door to face an unhappy Vinaya.

"What did you say to him?" she demanded, putting her hand on her hip much like this Christian had. I slid past her and returned to the couch.

"Don't feel sorry for him, Vincent! He could have had this. We could have had a family together, but he screwed it up!" I refused to say anything to her that might raise an argument so I only pulled her down onto the couch once she walked close enough. I placed her in my lap and wrapped my arms around her, resting my chin on her shoulder.

"I was just being curious." I pressed my cheek against hers and I noticed she smiled.

"Curiosity killed the cat." She giggled.

"You know I hate cats." My voice was rather low. I then turned my head sharply to the right as I heard a meow from that side of the room. That horrid creature glared at me with its evil eyes and turned its ears back. I did all I could not to reach back and grab Cerberus.

**Thanks again for the reviews. I really appreciate it.**


	19. A Night Out

**I put this chapter in other people's POVs besides Vinaya and Vincent, I hope this doesn't mess up the story.**

**Also there are only 3 more chapters after this one, but I have a concept for a sequel. **

**The Touch of Your Flesh**

**A Night Out**

**Next Morning…..**

◊ **Tifa's POV ◊**

"Cloud, I just hung up with Vincent. He wants to speak with you alone, but he's bringing Vinaya and Priya. Where's Marlene?"

I walked around our crowded apartment trying to clean up the clutter before the visitors came. What could Vincent want to talk to Cloud _alone_ about. I don't really want Cloud involved in this Deepground stuff. It's too dangerous and I've worked too hard to get to where I am with him to let him go…. I'd rather fight alongside Vincent than watch Cloud do it.

The doorbell rang; it was almost nine o'clock on a Saturday. Vincent, this had better be urgent. Tomorrow is Priya's birthday party. Cloud answered the door, he was unaware we were having guest until about five minutes ago so he was still shirtless, wearing only his black pajama shorts that came below his knees. Vinaya looked as if she had just been drug out of bed, Priya was still rubbing her eyes, but Vincent looked wide awake. I even saw him smile slightly as he nodded at Cloud. Cloud nodded back and squinted into the bright sun. He quickly the door as the three came inside. Priya skipped off to Marlene's room, Cloud motioned for Vincent to go to our bedroom, and Vinaya just walked to me with a sad look in her eye. Once everyone was out of the room, we sat down on our dark grey couch and I placed my hand gently on her arm.

"What happened?" I asked her. The last time I spoke with her she seemed happy. Vincent had kissed her; I guess they were together….

"I don't know….Vincent was just acting kind of strange this morning."

"Did you guys do it last night or something?" I watched in amusement as Vinaya's eyes widened.

"No…he didn't even want to share a bed with me, he told me he felt as if he were intruding." She rolled her eyes and looked down at her fingernails. Vinaya was always one to look her best, I studied her manicured nails as she did.

"Has he told you he loved you yet?" she nodded and I smiled as I gently pushed her shoulder. "Yay we cracked him."

"It wasn't very convincing and he had this weird emotion in his face… I think he just knew that was what I wanted to hear."

"Hmm…." I thought carefully. Vincent wasn't the type of guy who just ran around telling everyone what they wanted to hear. He was usually the one bearing bad news.

◊ **Cloud's POV ◊**

I shook the sleep away and glanced over at Vincent. "So uh…you wanted to talk?"

"Cloud I….can trust you right?" Over all the time I've known Vincent I've never seen him look so emotionally drained. I nodded.

"What should I do? About….Vinaya."

"What about her? Do you love her?" I scratched the back of my head and sighed. Vincent came over here to talk about love with me? Me?! Of all people, he could have spoken with Reno he loves this kind of gossip. I tried to appear supportive. Vincent is my friend after all and it must have taken a lot for him to be about to open up to me like he was.

"I'm not sure I want to set myself up for that kind of pain again. But at the same time, I do not wish to hurt her now either. She thinks she's in love with me…. She doesn't understand that I can do nothing for her." Vincent stared down at our hard wood floors with his hands clasped together. We both sat a good ways apart on Tifa's and my bed.

"Vincent." I said after a moment of silence. "If you love her, and she loves you what reason is there not to be together? You've still got a long time before you have to worry about her growing old. Who knows, by then we could find a way to bring back your mortality." Vincent nodded and looked up from the floor and after a few moments of silence he started again.

"So you've finally moved on too….Cloud. When did you feel that it was ok to move on?" I scratched my head again and sighed.

"I realized one day after I caught Tifa crying that the more I tried to push her away, the more she was hurting and the more it hurt me to hurt her. So I just gave in….but now….it feels good." I smiled at my solemn friend next to me. He only nodded.

"I can see how this is affecting Vinaya. But I'm still afraid…. I've grown so used to being alone….I've forgotten what its like to have someone that cares for me this way. I had forgotten what a woman's touch felt like. I still flinch every time she touches me." I watched as Vincent's shoulders slumped as he sighed heavily. I reached out and gently patted him on the back a few times.

"You know what Vince, why don't you come out with us tonight to Tifa's new bar and have a couple of drinks. You need to relax, man."

Vincent smirked. "A few drinks? Have you any idea how long it has been since I have had a 'few drinks'?" He gave me a half amused look.

"Well then what are we waiting for…uh…how long do you think you'll be ok without Vinaya?" I had totally forgotten about Chaos. "I mean…well…she can come too. She can hang out with Tifa while we play cards and stuff. You still remember how to play Chicago Rummy?" Vincent nodded and seemed to be getting into the idea.

**Later that evening….**

◊ **Vinaya's POV ◊**

Vincent never struck me as the party kind of person so I was surprised when he asked if it was ok if we went down to Tifa's bar tonight. I stood in the bathroom putting on eye make up and curling my hair. I swooped my bangs over my left eye. I decided to cut them a bit shorter so my left eye was actually visible.

I had on a light blue dressy tank top, and a short khaki skirt. I wore light blue shoes with straps that tied up my calves. Keeping these things tied was gonna be hell, but they were cute. I put on some lip gloss and shut off the bathroom light. Vincent came out of his room smelling like cologne and wearing black dress pants with the short sleeved, buttoned down, black shirt that I bought for him. He had the first two buttons undone and I noticed he was wearing a necklace with the same emblem that I saw hanging from his gun the other day. He wore the black bandana that I had bought for him also.

"Wow Vincent, what's this?" I asked scooping up the emblem. He looked down at it, frowning as he strained his neck to see it.

"It was my father's." I looked up into his eyes and smiled as my mouth formed and oh, but I let no sound out.

"You look handsome, by the way." I winked at him flirtatiously. He apprehensively took my hand and gave it a soft squeeze before bringing it to his lips. The feeling of his lips against the back of my hand sent a chill through my body and goose bumps sprouted on my arm. A corner of his mouth twitched at an attempt to smile and he released my hand.

Priya stayed with Marlene and Denzel at Tifa's place with Yuffie and Nanaki. Normally Yuffie would just babysit alone, but in a dangerous time like this Nanaki came to protect her. Barrett was also on call.

Tifa's new bar was far more modern looking than her last one. There were disco lights and multicolored stools near the silver metal bar. The place had a decent amount of people in it. Cid was already drunk and cursing loudly as he stumbled all over the place. Reno was right there with him. Rude stood by the door looking professional. Everyone had their weapons nearby incase of a Deep ground emergency. A young woman with electric blue hair in a short little mini skirt sat drinks in front of Vincent, Cloud, Rufus and some unfamiliar looking guy with dark brown hair.

A few hour passed by like nothing. I was actually enjoying myself. At first I stayed near Vincent watching the guys play cards, and then I joined Tifa on the dance floor. Somehow I ended up grinding with Reno and it was all in good fun until a hand crept up my skirt in return he received a hard slap across the face. I didn't have a single drink, I know how I used to be when I was drunk and I didn't want Vincent to see me like that.

◊ **Cloud's POV ◊**

After we had finished our card game I followed Vincent over to the bar. He had already had four drinks and seemed to be slightly buzzed as fumbled with his money, buying another drink. Tifa's other bartender offered me another one, but I declined. I stared at my friend as he downed another tall glass of whatever that stuff was.

"Excuse me….another?"

"Hey Vincent." I tapped him on the shoulder. He turned and faced me. His eyes were glassy. "That's enough, man…"

"I'll only have one more." He turned away from me and looked over at Vinaya who was dancing in a group of girls. His drink came and he downed it with a few minutes and was about to request another when I waved the bartender off indicating that he was getting out of hand. Those weren't little shot glasses, but big huge tall cups full of hard alcohol.

He put his face in his hands. "I love her so much…. Why?" his slurred speech was muffled. "Why can't I just be normal…" He put his face in his arms and rested his head on the table. I patted his back a few times, and quickly left him to go and get Vinaya. Maybe she could get him under control before he loses it. I walked onto the dance floor. I could have swore I just saw her dancing right here, I looked around but all I could see was a blur of people dancing. I myself was a bit tipsy as well. I looked back at the bar and saw that same bartender set another glass in front of Vincent. They really just want their money don't they, not giving a damn about their customers.

◊ **Vinaya's POV ◊**

I came out of the bathroom and looked around. I decided to check in with Vincent and see what he was doing. I saw him sipping a drink at the bar from a distance. I made my way over to him as fast as I could through the crowded dance floor.

As soon as I was almost out of the crowd Cloud grabbed my arm. "Vinaya…you need to go get Vincent. I can't get him to stop drinking; he's had more than enough. You might want to take him home…uh…I'll go with you if you need me to." I shook my head. There was no use in trying to talk over the loud music, as we were right next to the DJ and the big speakers. I walked over to where Vincent was sitting. My feet were killing me and I was more than ready to go home.

"Vincent?" I placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm ready to go." He looked up at me with his glassy eyes and smiled sloppily.

"Ok…if you wan…les go." He slurred as he nearly stumbled off the stool. I caught him by wrapping my arms around me. He moaned and wrapped his arms around me as well. We stumbled back a few steps. "Sorry…."

"Its ok, Vincent." I grabbed his shoulder and steadied him. I then slid one of my hands down his arm to his hand. As we walked out of the bar I ended up with his arm around my shoulders and my arm around his waist. He smelled like cologne mixed with alcohol. I didn't know how the hell he was going to handle the flight car ride and if he threw up on me I would never forgive him. I got on and he followed, he laid against me arms thrown around me loosely.

"Hold on tighter, please." He tightened his grip and snuggled his face into my back.

"Mmm…Vinaya….I love you so much." He murmured against my back as I started up the flight car. I shook it off. He was _plastered_ I can't believe anything he says. "Vin…you smell sss good…" he slurred squeezing me tighter and resting his chin on my shoulder.

"Vincent….you shouldn't have drank so much." I drove faster hoping to get home as quick as possible before Vincent falls off or causes me to fall off the flight car. He didn't respond to my comment, I was starting to think he passed out, but he moaned again.

Finally we pulled up in front of the house. I helped Vincent off the flight car and he made it to the sidewalk and squatted down. I turned my head as he threw up all over the side walk.

"Are you ok?" I asked him once he stood up straight again. He nodded and took my hand he made a disgusted face. I imagined that didn't leave a nice taste in his mouth. I quickly got him into the house and let him rinse his mouth out with mouthwash. I then took him to his bedroom.

"Here's your pajamas." I handed him the black pants and white T-shirt. He kicked off his shoes and started unbuttoning his shirt right in front of me. I turned away and listened to the shuffle of clothes being removed. He grunted a few times and finally after a good five minutes he was dressed in just his pajama pants. I figured this was good enough for now. I left and got him a bottle of water, when I returned he was still sitting on the edge of the bed looking like he was in a trance.

"Here you go, drink this so you can sober up a little." I sat on his bed with him as he took a few drinks of the water. I took it from him and closed it back. He fell back on the bed and closed his eyes. He then opened them again and looked up at me.

"Lay." He simply commanded with that silly looking sloppy smile plastered on his face. It was the first time I had ever seen him smile like this. It was a shame he had to be drunk to do it. He would also probably have been embarrassed to lay here shirtless in front of me. Vincent had a nice body, hairless all except for a light trail of dark hairs leading toward his private area.

"I'm going to go dress in my pajamas, and then I'll come right back ok? Get under the covers." He let out a hissing snake laugh and followed my orders. When I returned wearing my flowered pajama pants and tank top, Vincent was passed out under the covers. I got in on the other side of the bed and reached pasted him to turn off the lamp that was on his side. My elbow accidently brushed his chest in the process waking him instantly. He snuggled up to me placing sloppy wet kisses all over my face and neck. Simultaneously missing my lips.

"I love you." He whispered.

"Vincent, you're going to feel like shit in the morning." He held me closed to him and sighed. His bare skin against mine gave me chills again. I rolled around in his arms and faced him. His eyes fluttered open again, the glassy look was starting to fade, but I was sure he was still pretty drunk.

"Vinaya….I want to love you forever, please don leave me. Not ever…. My life has been too unfair." His speech was still slightly slurred. I knew he would have never said anything like this to me while he was sober. His eyes kept threatening to shut on him. I gently stroked his face and his eyes fell shut with my touch. His breathing became heavier, and I knew he must have fallen asleep. I felt bad for him, because tomorrow we would be at Priya's birthday party that was sure to be full of young kids running around and poor Vincent is going to be so hung over….


	20. Happy Birthday Priya

**The Touch Of Your Flesh**

**Happy Birthday Priya**

I opened my eyes and realized that I had two hours until Priya's birthday party. I prayed Tifa and the gang were already at the park setting up and that they wouldn't be mad at me for being a bit late. I didn't want to move and wake Vincent yet. I looked up at his face that was no more than four inches away from mine. He looked so peaceful and even had a hint of a smile on his face instead of the usual frown he wore while sleeping as if he was in a deep nightmare. His clawed arm was thrown over me along with his left leg. I couldn't move if I wanted to before waking him. I gently ran my fingertips down his cheek causing his eyebrows to twitch. His eyes then fluttered open only to be shut tight again along with a groan.

I kissed his cheek. "I bet you feel great this morning."

"What happened last night? I didn't…..mean to get so intoxicated." He finally opened his eyes and looked at me. I smiled at him.

"Nothing happened. I brought you home, gave you some water, told you to get in your pajamas you wanted me to lay here with you, so I did." I sat up, yawned, and smoothed my hair down.

"Thank you….I'm terribly sorry for burdening you that way." He lifted his leg off mine and pulled back his clawed arm.

"Vincent, I'd do _anything_ for you." I smiled down at him and gently ran my hands through the long hair that was spilled out across the pillow. He sat up only to wince and hold his head. I rubbed his bare back and gave him a few light pats. I scooted closer and wrapped my arms around him. He took me into his arms and laid his head on my shoulder.

"You are too good to me, Vinaya. How can I ever repay you?" his forehead felt very warm against my shoulder.

"Vincent….I've told you before your company is enough. You know how I feel about you." He lifted his head off my shoulder and looked me in the eye. He dipped his head and kissed my lips, he pulled back almost instantly as if he had done something terrible. I then noticed his eyes were fixed on the doorway where Priya stood.

"Mommy….when's my party?" she walked in and stood at the end of the bed. Vincent moved away from me I looked over at him and saw a red blush cross his cheeks. He then shot out of bed and made his way quickly to the bathroom.

"Your party is in two hours. Get dressed and I'll make you a quick breakfast, ok? Don't bother Vincent he's not feeling well this morning." I got up out of Vincent's bed also and walked slowly to the bathroom in the hallway. I knocked softly before entering. Vincent was sitting by the toilet with his back against the bathtub. He looked like hell.

"Are you going to be ok?" He sniffed and nodded. He stood holding his head. "Aww you poor thing." I laughed softly. He glared at me not finding anything funny.

"I really hate to ask you for anything more, but do you have any medicine that could maybe help me?" He looked so desperate. I smiled and gently took his human hand pulling him up and into the kitchen. I fixed Vincent a glass of water and gave him two painkillers for his head and started on Priya's breakfast.

◊ **Vincent's POV ◊**

I swallowed the medicine she gave me and put my head down on the table. I felt terribly uncomfortable sitting there without a shirt, but I was too out of it to move. I felt a soft little hand touch my shoulder. I looked up and saw Priya's face right in mine. Vinaya had pulled her hair up into two pigtails on both sides of her head and her bangs were swooped across her forehead much like Vinaya wore her own bangs.

"Vince? All better now?" she pressed her hand against my cheek. I gave her a sad smile and shook my head no. "But you will come to my party right? You promised." I promised…..I nodded then cringed at how miserable I was about to make myself. I have never been a child person so sitting at a park with twenty little children with a hang over like this was going to be hell.

"Priya I told you not to bother Vincent." Vinaya came near again and placed her hand on my shoulder. Her touch felt so good to my skin I didn't want her to take her hand away. I sighed as she did so. I could hardly hold down the breakfast she prepared, but I managed to pull myself together and get dressed for Priya's party. I wore the same long sleeved buttoned down red over shirt that I had at Vinaya's party. After I dressed myself I laid down on the bed again, I honestly hadn't meant to, but I drifted off to sleep again.

◊ **Vinaya's POV ◊**

"Hey Vincent? Are you dressed? We're leaving!" I called down the hallway. When I got no response I walked into his doorway to see Vincent sprawled out on his bed, laying on his back with his mouth open. I jumped on his bed and straddled him. His eyes snapped open and he closed his mouth.

"Oh…I'm sorry."

"Its ok, I know you feel horrible. Are you ready to leave, though? Because we need to get going." He sighed and I got off of him so he could get up. I took his hand in mine as we stood and we were off.

Indeed Tifa and the gang were already at the park getting things ready. The picnic tables were covered with pink table clothes. There was a cake in its plastic case on the middle picnic table. There was a sign with the words Happy Birthday Priya written in pink that was hanging between two trees. Priya seemed delighted with the decorations, Vincent walked slowly through the park and took a seat on a bench beside me. He groaned before asking.

"When do the guest arrive?"

"Any minute." I picked up his human hand in mine and intertwined our fingers. Yuffie popped up behind the bench, her head shot in between ours and she turned and faced Vincent then me. She then stood up and walked around in front of us.

"Soooo…. its official?" she place a hand on her hip and looked back and forth from Vincent to me. I looked at Vincent. Honestly we had not made what we've had official. He still hasn't straightforwardly told me how he truly feels. I wasn't gonna believe his drunk talk, and the first time he tried to tell me he loved, he didn't even look sure.

He looked back at me in the same way.

"Uh….we haven't really…um…." I didn't know how to answer her question and I was hoping Vincent would help me out, but he remained silent. I gave Yuffie a look that meant drop the subject before things get awkward so she did.

"Anyways…Priya starts kindergarten soon right!? Summer vacation is in like one week for her, doesn't it?"

"Yeah." I sighed. It was gonna be a long summer trying to keep that girl entertained. I stood as I saw the first few guest show up with their parents. I introduced myself to them and gave each kid their gift for showing up and took the gifts the parents brought for Priya on one of the picnic tables. I looked back to see Vincent lying down on the bench. Yuffie bend down and got in his face, and I laughed softly as I saw him bat her away like she was some kind of insect.

More and more guest started showing up and we ended up with twenty three kids there at the party. Vincent slept through the first fifteen minutes.

"Ok everyone lets sing happy birthday!" Tifa yelled gathering up all the kids.

"Wait!" I ran over to the bench Vincent was laying on and tapped his shoulder lightly. He opened his eyes and glared at me at first, probably thinking I was Yuffie bothering him again, but when he realized it was me he sat right up.

"What is it?" He took my hand as he stood.

"We're gonna sing Priya happy birthday now and she's gonna open her presents." I said dragging him towards the picnic table. His eyes were blood shot, and his hair was slightly ruffled. I felt so sorry for him, but he knew Priya's party was today so he shouldn't have let himself get so out of control.

He didn't sing with us, like I had _really_ expected to, but he applauded Priya as she blew out her five candles. She then turned around and hugged me and smiled up at Vincent. Vincent smiled down at her, he chose to ignore the gasped and whispers from the kids.

Some were asking "Who's he?" or "What's wrong with his arm?" or "Is that a man, his hair is long." One little bold child stomped right up to him.

"Are you Priya's daddy?" the blond girl asked loudly. Priya looked up at me. I had told her long ago that she didn't have a father.

"No, I'm not…"

"Excuse me…um…Brandi this is my close friend Vincent." I said trying to stop the girl from terrorizing Vincent any further. But I failed.

"What's wrong with him?" she asked bluntly. I held Vincent's hand and gave him a reassuring look. He glared at the little girl. I felt Chaos' tension building up inside him so I squeezed his hand tighter.

"Vince is sick." Priya said matter of factly. "He lives with us at our house cause me and mommy are the only people that can make him all better."

Vincent looked shocked. A five year old had just taken up for him. I was almost literally holding him back from the little girl up until this point. He relaxed and when the little girl ran off, he bent down and hugged Priya.

"Happy birthday, Priya." His voice was very soft and he patted her head lightly as he stood up. Priya giggled and ran off. I had forgotten how unintentionally mean kids could be. I took Vincent into my arms and held him close.

"You don't have to feel sorry for me." He whispered. He pulled away upon seeing Tifa approach us. He looked down shyly.

"You guys wanna have some cake?" She smiled a little too brightly. Vincent shook his head no. I of course couldn't pass up cake. I pulled Vincent to the picnic table and we sat at the end by ourselves. Vincent sat beside me and put his head down. I ate a few bites then offered him one. He smiled at me for the first time today. He then did something very surprising. He brought his lips to mine and gently ran his tongue in the corners of my mouth.

"You had enough cake on your face for me." He smiled again and even chuckled a little bit.

"Are you feeling better?"

He nodded and gazed up at me with his head back down resting on his arms. I giggled before planting a kiss on the tip of his nose and running off. He lifted his head and watched me run away with a slight smile on his face. I joined Priya and her friends on the swing set. Vincent remained at the table just watching.

Finally parents started showing up to pick up their kids. I was relieved, it had been fun and I could tell Priya enjoyed herself a lot, but I was just ready to go home. And I didn't even need to ask if Vincent was. It was written all over his face this had probably been the longest couple hours in his life.


	21. Letting Go and Loving You

**The Touch Of Your Flesh**

**Letting Go and Loving You**

I woke up in an empty bed. It was two days after Priya's birthday party. Yesterday Vincent seemed pretty distant, I caught him brooding again by the window. I thought he was over that. After I sent Priya off to school, she didn't seem t mind going anymore, I guess this last week was a fun week for them since it was their last week of Preschool, I called Vincent's cell phone.

He didn't answer. I tried three more times…. No answer.

I sighed and felt myself almost come to the brink of tears. Vincent, how could you just leave like that!? Where would he be?! He didn't even leave a note; it's not like him to not answer my calls. I began to jump on all kinds of bad conclusions. Then I tried to think of good things, maybe he got an emergency call from Reeve and had no time to leave a message and now he's in the middle of intense combat and couldn't answer my phone. Or maybe there's something going on in the city. I looked out my bedroom window. The flight car was gone! After calling Vincent one more time with no answer, I called Cloud.

Cloud hadn't seen or heard from Vincent either so he offered to call Reeve for me. After calling Reeve he called me back.

"No…Reeve hasn't called him. There's still another week and a few days until Omega awakes. Deepground is gathering around him, ready to put up a fight. This is going to be an all out war."

I sighed loudly. "Thanks Cloud." Where could Vincent be?! All out war?! New worse thoughts entered my mind and I spent hours sitting in front of the TV worrying.

Later that afternoon when Priya came home off the bus from school, I called once more.

"This is Vincent." He answered.

"Vincent where are you!?" I yelled loudly.

◊ **Vincent's POV ◊**

I held the phone away from my ear as she screamed the question.

"Vinaya….I'm sorry. I will return don't worry."

"But where…."She started again. I hung up the phone and put it back in my pocket. I sat on the cold ground in front of _her._ Lucrecia. I stared up at her frozen form.

"Lucrecia…. Please…may your presence let me be." All this time I've distanced myself from Vinaya, it was because of her. Her image would not leave my dreams at night. Her voice would not stop calling my name. I've kept this all in side, but now…I wish to let it go.

"Forgive me for not being able to save you..." I lowered my head and squeezed my eyes shut. "I have spent so much time trying to atone for the sins I have committed… so please… I want to let you go. I want to love Vinaya….with every piece of my broken heart."

I looked up at her figure again.

"Vincent…" I gasped as I saw a ghostly image of her appear standing in front of me.

"Lu...Lucrecia?" I stood and walked towards her…ready to take her into my arms. She passed through me and progressed to the exit of the cave.

"It's about time you let me go, silly boy." She giggled and disappeared out of the cave's exit. I turned around to see her body was not there anymore. I ran out of the cave it was night now.

"Lucrecia!? Lucrecia!!!" There was nothing…. No sign of any sort of life. I sat on the edge of the cliff for what seemed like hours. I stared up at the view from the cliff. The stars had always seemed brighter up here. I sighed loudly. Had Lucrecia really been able to hear all of what I said to her? Then she knows…she's known all along how I've felt. I sighed as some of my guilt floated away.

"Vincent!!" I heard the motor of another flight car and Yuffie's high pitch voice. I turned to see Yuffie land her flight car near the entrance of the cave with Vinaya on the back.

"Vinny Valentine!" Yuffie stomped up to me I looked passed her at Vinaya who looked as if she was going to break out into tears.

"Yuffie…please….may I be alone with her." I nodded towards Vinaya. Yuffie rolled her eyes then glared at me.

"Yeah whatever, but you've got a lot of explainin ta do!" She took off into the sky with her flight car, leaving Vinaya and I alone on the cliff.

"Vinaya…I.."

"Is she still that important to you Vincent? Can you still only love her?" I opened my arms to her but she turned away from me. I looked down and sighed.

"I…"

"Vincent, do you have any idea how emotionally painful this is for me!? I've let myself fall in love with you….and you just. Do you even care?"

"Please lis…."

"How could you lay beside me in bed and kiss me, tell me how much you care for me, tell me that you think you love me… then run back up here to your little…"

"Watch yourself." My tone went from soft and gentle to low and cold. "Now if you would let me explain myself…."

"No! This explains it all!" her voice echoed through the air.

I closed the distance between Vinaya and I and grabbed her shoulders in a firm grip. That silenced her. She looked up at me, fear in her eyes. Her beauty was breathtaking under the moonlight. I loosened my grip a little not wanting to harm her or make her afraid of me.

"Vinaya…I _do_ care. Do not ever think I would disregard your feelings that way." I released her shoulders and took her into my arms. I pulled away briefly to take off my cloak that seemed to serve as a barrier between us. I held her again now only wearing a black T-shirt and black pajama pants. When have I ever been one to care about public appearance?

"Then why are you here, Vincent? Why did you want to see her?" she murmured against my chest. I pulled back and made sure I held eye contact as I said this.

"Vinaya…until now I haven't been able to let her go. She's spent every night in my dreams, and everyday haunting me with her voice in my head. I came here to ask her to please leave me alone, please allow me to let her go because I want to love you. And Vinaya I'll love you with every piece of my shattered heart until the day you return to the Planet."

Tears poured out of her eyes as she began to cry. I didn't feel as bad knowing they were not tears of sadness.

"Vincent… I love you too. But, Vincent even when I'm gone….wherever I go….I'll still be loving you." She then smiled that same smile that made me fall so deeply in love with her in the first place. I returned the smile and kissed her lips.

◊ **Vinaya's POV ◊**

I squeezed Vincent as he deepened his kiss. I was ready for him to take me right here and right now on this cliff but he whispered.

"Lets go home….and if its alright with you…I'd like to show you a further display of my love for you." He planted a few kisses from my earlobe down to my neck. I moaned and giggled.

"Vincent you can't be doing that while I'm driving the flight car…"

"Who said you were driving?" he grinned at me. It was the first time I had ever seen his smile this wide. Vincent Valentine was truly a gorgeous man. Just when I thought he couldn't smile any bigger, he did slightly before kissing my lips again. He dug in his pocket for the key once he found it, he picked up his cloak and asked me to hang on to it for him. I put it on and Vincent laughed quietly as he buckled the buckles for me. His laugh was so smooth and just simply beautiful. I hoped this was an event that I could witness everyday for the rest of my life.

The cloak pooled around my feet on the ground. I wore jean shorts that were dangerously short, along with a white-tank top. I picked the end of the cloak up off the ground and followed Vincent to the flight car.

"I must say…you do pull off the cloak even better that I." he kissed my lips again before turning his back to me and starting the flight car. I laughed out loud.

"Vincent Valentine, you are full of surprises I must say. The day I met you, I was a little bit intimidated, but you are nothing like how I thought you were going to be."

"Vinaya…the day you met me I was someone who I never wanted to be." We flew off the cliff and passed the ruins of Midgar. I held on tight to Vincent's warm body.

"By the way Vincent, my shampoos and conditioners have really brought out the silky shininess of your hair." I commented as his locks flew back in my face.

He chuckled and sped up swinging left and right to avoid trees or birds.

"Slow down!" I yelled squeezing him to death. He obeyed. I then laughed. "Are you in that much of a hurry to get me in bed?"

"Hmm." He responded. I didn't know what kind of response this was so I kept laughing, unaware of the intense tension that was forming between his legs. I closed my eyes and took in Vincent's scent as I pressed my face into his back. So _she_ was the one sending Vincent back into his little brooding relapses. I was beginning to think it was me. I sighed and smiled thinking of what was about to happen.

**Thanks again everyone for the reviews, Thanks Maray for takin time out to read the whole story at once.**

**Thanks LordMakura I think you have reviewed to like every single chapter. **

**Chaxra san, Brina, Dragonesswarrior, faetian, miragekoase, Seliah, Janyasha, everyone thanks!**

**There's only one more after this! Hehe**


	22. Goodbye For Now, Hello Forever

**The Touch of Your Flesh **

**Goodbye For Now, Hello Forever **

Finally we reached the house. Vincent lifted me off the flight car and carried me to the front door bridal style. It was hard focusing on getting the key in the door right with Vincent's hands roaming all over my body, and his lips teasing the sensitive spot on my neck.

"Stop!" I giggled when he gently bit at the spot. He breathed a small laugh and took the key from my shaky hands and unlocked the door. I had dropped Priya off at Tifa and Cloud's place before I even went to find Vincent.

"Lift your arms." Vincent demanded gently slipping his fingers under my shirt. When I obeyed he quickly lifted my shirt off and threw it on the couch. The then stepped back and threw off his black T-shirt as well. I ran away from him into the bedroom and jumped on the bed. Vincent was in there seconds later and hopped on top of me.

"Vinaya…I love you so much." He looked down at me while gently stroking my face with his right hand. He was propped up on his claw to prevent placing all of his weight on me, even though I wouldn't have minded anyway he didn't look very heavy.

"I love you too Vincent. I have for a long time…." Vincent showed off a sexy smile before undoing the button on my jean shorts.

"Since when?"

"Probably within the first couple of weeks that I met you. But you were so distant then… I didn't think you'd ever have an interest for me." I looked up at him as he slowly unzipped my shorts and pulled them off gently, trying not to scratch my leg with his claws.

"Vinaya I was intrigued by you since the moment I saw you walking around in the Forgotten City. You are definitely the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. I followed you for some time before I asked your purposed there." Well ya could of stopped me a little sooner, my purpose for walking around out there was that I was looking for you! Vincent scooted back and pulled off his pajama pants and boxers all in one movement. I froze. Vincent blushed and quickly laid back down on top of me placing all of his weight on me. I reached back and unclipped my bra and threw it down on the floor. Vincent lifted himself off of me just enough so he could pull my panties off and come into me. He snatched up my comforter and put it over us before he continued. For it being more that thirty years since this man had had any sort of intimate interaction with a woman, he seemed to know exactly what to do and he hit just the right spot with every thrust of his hips. Tears streamed down my face as we reached our peak together.

"Vinaya?" Vincent asked as he rested his head on my chest. We were both panting and there were small beads of sweat on his forehead and down his back.

"Yes Vincent…." I gently ran my fingers through his damp hair. I heard him sniff and felt a warm drop of liquid run down my chest.

He sniffed again and took a deep breath. "Thank you."

"For what Vincent? You just gave me the best night of my life." I laughed slightly, but went quiet again when I felt more drops of liquid on my chest and felt Vincent's body tremble. "Vincent…"

"You've done so much for me, Vinaya…. You gave me my life back. You made me smile and laugh again after I thought I had forgotten how to." He sighed again and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand as he rolled off me and sat up in the bed beside me. The blankets covered from his waist down. After he composed himself he laid back down and I let him wrap me up in his warm embrace.

"I love you Vincent." I kissed his lips one last time before falling asleep in his arms.

**◊Vincent's POV◊ **

I couldn't believe that had actually happened. I couldn't believe I was in love again, after all the times I said I wouldn't do it; here I am madly in love with another woman. I looked down at the angel sleeping in my arms and smiled. I then looked at the clock, it was almost three o'clock in the morning and I didn't know when the next time I would be able to get any sleep would be as I leave today. I kissed her forehead before resting my head against hers and allowing myself to fall asleep.

The next morning I woke up in Vinaya's bed alone. I knew she was probably preparing breakfast for Priya or maybe walking her to her bus stop by now. I slowly sat up and looked at my surroundings. Vinaya had piled up our clothes from last night at the end of the bed. I smiled thinking of last night but that smile was replaced quickly by a frown when my phone started ringing.

"This is Vincent."

"Its time, Vincent. Your friends are all here waiting. Cid has let us use his airship as our home base, and we've got a fleet of other airships on our side. We are going to attack by air."

"Understood. I will be there shortly." I hung up and slid off the bed. Time to save the world.

**◊Vinaya's POV◊ **

I walked in the front door to witness Vincent fully dressed in the outfit I first met him in, putting his gun away and quickly concealing it as he became aware of my presence.

"There's breakfast…."

"I ate." He cut me off as he walked up to me. Cloud and Tifa then barged in my front door.

"Vincent! Let's go! Its time!" Cloud yelled. Vincent nodded at him then looked down at me smiling sadly.

"I've got to go, Vinaya. It may be a long time before I return, but I will." He gently stroked my cheek with his human fingers and then bent down and kissed my lips. "I love you." He whispered in my ear before pulling away.

"Wait! Vincent! I want to go with you. If Chaos…."

Vincent chuckled. "I'm sure Chaos is sleeping deep after all of that fleshly contact last night." My jaw dropped along with Cloud's and Tifa's. Vincent just grinned at the three of us, then took my shoulders in my hands and looked at me seriously.

"I would never let you come with me. I could never forgive myself if something happened to you because of me." He pulled me closed to him and rested his head on top of mine.

"And you have Priya to look after." He whispered to me.

I smiled and laughed softly. "And Phoebe." She meowed as she walked up to us and rubbed her body against Vincent's leg. He flinched and tightened his grip on me. I laughed loudly.

"Hmph…and Phoebe….damn cat." He mumbled. I lightly shoved him away and faked a scowl. He merely pulled me back against him and kissed my lips again.

"Vincent…" Cloud said softly.

"Just a minute, Cloud." Vincent didn't even look up at him before tilting his head and kissing me again gently running his human fingers through my hair with his claw resting lightly on my back.

"I love you Vincent." Tears came again. I seriously never realized I was this emotional. Vincent wiped them away as quick as they came.

"Do you want to see me cry again?" he asked in a gentle tone. Those crimson eyes that use to intimidate me so much with their intensity were now soft and gave me a reassuring feeling. I shook my head no at his question.

"Then don't let me see you cry. It makes me so sad to watch a beautiful angel like you shed tears for me." He rested his forehead against mine and we both closed our eyes.

"Be safe, Vincent. I won't call and disturb you. But if there is ever a moment when you get the time, please call and let me know you are ok." Vincent pulled away but kept a hold of my hands. He nodded and sighed.

"Goodbye Vinaya." He let go of my hands and followed Cloud to the door. I followed them all the way out the door and down the porch steps. I followed Vincent to my flight car and threw my arms around him again. I could hear Cloud sigh loudly all the way from where he stood, but I didn't care.

"Goodbye Vincent. I love you."

"I love you too." He smiled at me and got on my flight car. "I will return, I promise."

"Ok." I smiled back and stepped away as he started my vehicle. Cloud was the first to take off and Vincent wasn't far behind him. I stood on the side walk and watched the vehicles speed down the road until they disappeared. Vincent Valentine….You better come back here alive.

I walked back into the empty house. Yuffie would be bringing Priya home any minute. As soon as I was about to sit down and start crying I realized something amazing. Vincent Valentine, the immortal soul that refused to love anyone ever again besides his precious Lucrecia had fallen for me. I must really be something special to make a man like that fall madly in love with me and forget about any promises he had made to himself. I smiled at that thought and tried to keep filling my head with reassuring thoughts so I could stop worrying for him. He'd make it back ok, I know he will.

**◊Vincent's POV◊ **

I rode with a smile on my face, on my lover's flight car. _My_ lover. I could have never imagined in a million years I would have someone to call my lover again. It's a good feeling saving the world and knowing you've got something waiting your return…warm arms to run back into. Its been too long since I've had that feeling. I increased the speed of the flight car to catch up to Cloud's bike.

Its time to save the world.

And return to the woman I love.

The end.

**There could possibly be a sequel. **


End file.
